¥
Albert Einstein, Scientist
February
In this issue: f^^Z^
_ _ . Improvement
The Convergence of
Science & Religion
"Einstein had to have the kind of dogged conviction
; that could have allowed him to say with Job, 'Though
I he slay me, yet will I trust in him.' " See page 62.
;
Ji\ *
Job, Man of F^ifth
/
k
Quality study
beyond the bachelors
degree at BYU-the
student* centered
graduate school*
Write to the Dean of the Graduate School, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, for any of
the following information: ■ 1968-1969 Graduate School Catalog of courses, requirements ■
Application for admission (new students only) ■ Deadline is July 31 ■ Application for readmission
■ Deadline is July 31 ■ Graduate scholarship and fellowships (3.5 GPA needed) Applications
Due Mar. 1 ■ Information on single or family housing.
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and last year master's and doctor's
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Cover Note:
Physicist Albert Einstein and the Old
Testament prophet Job have become
well-recognized symbols of men who
were deeply concerned with life and
who probed its meaning, each ulti-
mately finding in his search a lasting
faith in God's goodness.
The search for truth by men of sci-
ence and religion is lucidly described in
"The Convergence of Science and Re-
ligion" on page 62 by Nobel Prize-
winning physicist Charles H. Townes.
Dr. Townes is not a Latter-day Saint, but
his thoughts on the subject will be of
great interest to members of the
Church.
Our cover is related to Dr. Townes'
article. The portraits of Einstein and
Job are by Salt Lake artist Dale Kil-
bourn, whose artwork has become
familiar to Latter-day Saints through
the "Be Honest With Yourself" series
and the "Signs of the True Church"
series. He painted some of the posters
in each series. Some of the murals in
the Arizona Temple Bureau of Informa-
tion at Mesa are also by him.
Perhaps readers will be interested to
know that, due to conditions associated
with selecting a suitable cover, the
artist could not be given his assignment
until late one afternoon just two days
before it was needed for press dead-
lines. He returned two days later
with his portraits of Einstein and Job.
We hope readers will enjoy his interpre-
tation of the thought-lined face of
Einstein and the wise, serene face
of Job.
Official organ of the Priesthood Quorums. Mutual Improvement Associations
Home Teaching Committee, Music Committee, Church School System, and
other agencies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Improvement Era, 79 South State, Salt Lake City. Utah 84111
February 1968
The Voice of the Church
February 1968
Volume 71, Number 2
Special Features
2 Editor's Page: Sermons in a Sentence or Two, President David 0.
McKay
14 A New Look at the Pearl of Great Price: Part 1, Challenge and Re-
sponse (continued), Dr. Hugh Nibley
26 The Hurricane and Olataga of Samoa, Coy Harmon
28 Where Does All the Money Go? Dr. Quinn G. McKay
40 Colored photographs of Egyptian Papyri
62 The Convergence of Science and Religion, Charles H. Townes
Regular Features
10 Teaching: Contact! Nicholas Van Alfen
22 Genealogy: Major Genealogical Record Sources in Sweden
25 Lest We Forget: The Word of Wisdom, Albert L. Zobell, Jr.
49 The Presiding Bishopric's Page: The Presiding Bishop Talks to Youth
About Respect, Bishop John H. Vandenberg
51 The Era Asks About Genealogy in the Church Today
58 Today's Family: Do Your Best at the Moment — Then Stand Relaxed,
Florence B. Pinnock
60 Home, Sweet Home
72 The LDS Scene
74 The Church Moves On
76 Buffs and Rebuffs
78 These Times: The State of Morals, G. Homer Durham
80 End of an Era
53, 70, 71, 74 The Spoken Word, Richard L Evans
Era of Youth
33-48 Marion D. Hanks and Elaine Cannon, Editors
Fiction, Poetry
4 Journey at Dawn, Eugene A. Hooper, Jr.
10, 68, 70, 75, 80 Poetry
David O. McKay and Richard L. Evans, Editors; Doyle L. Green. Managing Editor; Albert L Zobell, Jr., Research Editor; Mabel Jones Gabbott, Jay M. Todd.
Eleanor Knowles, William T. Sykes, Editorial Associates; Florence B. Pinnock, Today's Family Editor; Marion D, Hanks, Era of Youth Editor; Elaine Cannon,
Era of Youth Associate Editor; Ralph Reynolds, Art Director; Norman F, Price, Staff Artist.
G. Homer Durham, Franklin S. Harris. Jr., Hugh Nibley, Sidney B. Sperry, Albert L. Payne, Contributing Editors.
G. Carlos Smith, Jr., General Manager; Florence S. Jacobsen, Associate General Manager; Verl F. Scott. Business Manager; A, Glen Snarr, Acting Business
Manager and Subscription Director; Thayer Evans, S. Glenn Smith. Advertising Representatives.
O General Superintendent, Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1968, and published by the
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multiple subscriptions, 2 years, $5.75; 3 years, $8.25; each succeeding year. $2.50 a year added to the three-year price; 35E single copy, except for
special issues.
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act of October 1917, authorized July 2. 1918.
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The Editor's Page
By President David O. McKay
Sermons in a
Sentence or Two
• If you would obtain the highest success and the
most contentment of mind, practice in your daily
contacts the ideals of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Whatever you have chosen as your profession, do
your best to excel.
The thing that a man really believes in his heart is
the thing that he really thinks. What he actually
thinks is the thing he lives.
It is true that self-preservation is the first law of
nature, but it is not a law of spiritual growth. He
who lets selfishness and his passions rule him
binds his soul in slavery, but he who, in the majesty
of spiritual strength, uses his physical tendencies
and yearnings and his possessions to serve purposes
higher than personal indulgence and comfort takes
the first step toward the happy and useful life.
Men do not go beyond their ideals. They often fall
short of them, but they never go beyond them.
With all my heart, I say to you that usefulness,
pleasure, joy, and happiness in this life come by
following Christ's admonition of seeking first his
kingdom.
When the people who call themselves Christian
militantly enlist under the leadership of the one to
whom they refer as King of the world; when they
accept as facts and not as theories his moral and
spiritual teachings; when for selfishness they substi-
tute kindness and thoughtfulness toward others;
when they aggressively defend the principles of true
liberty, then may we begin to realize the hope that
wrong may be abolished, righteousness may be en-
throned in human hearts, and honest relations may
become the daily practice of society. Then, and not
until then, will the kingdoms of this world become
the kingdom of our God.
Truly, the time has come, as perhaps never before,
when men should counsel together and in wisdom
determine how the world may be made a better
place in which to live.
An active, sincere faith in the basic teachings of
Jesus of Nazareth is the greatest need of the world.
Because many reject this truth is all the more reason
why sincere believers should proclaim it.
Man needs a rededication to the principles of un-
selfishness. No peace or freedom can come to the
world as long as men live only for themselves.
Obedience to Christ and his laws brings life and
life eternal.
We cannot truly believe that we are the children
of God and that God exists without our also believ-
ing in the final inevitable triumph of truth expressed
in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Improvement Era
If you will live in accordance with the humble
principles under the covenants you made at the
water's edge, and since that time that you have made
in sacrament meetings, and that many of you have
made in the House of God, you will fill a noble
mission, and God will reward you.
The mission of the Church is to proclaim the truth
of the restored gospel, to uplift society that people
may mingle more amicably one with another, and to
create in our communities a wholesome environment
in which our children may find strength to resist
temptation, and encouragement to strive for cultural
and spiritual attainment.
The restored gospel is a rational philosophy that
teaches men how to get happiness in this life and
in the life to come.
God help us to be true to our responsibilities and
to our callings, and especially to the responsibility we
bear as fathers and mothers of the children of Zion
—heaven's treasures given to us.
One never develops character by yielding to wrong.
Strength comes by resisting!
Nature's law is the survival of the fittest. God's law
is: Use your personal power and possessions for the
advancement and happiness of others.
To members of the restored Church, marriage is a
divine ordinance and, when directed by intelligent
parenthood, the surest and safest means for the
improvement of mankind. Marriage is not a cere-
mony to be entered into lightly, to be terminated at
pleasure, nor a union to be dissolved at the first
difficulty that might arise.
The ability to preserve the home in its purity and
usefulness is found in The Church of jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints.
God should be the center of our lives and the lives
of all in the world.
The Mormon pioneers did not regard drama and
the theater as merely a mode of amusement. They
found it as a means of entering into and sharing the
impulses of the mind and feelings, and thereby
establishing in the wilderness a spiritual oasis where
the minds and souls of men could be refreshed,
where men could lose the sense of isolation and
loneliness and return to their tasks refreshed and
with a renewed conviction of solidarity.
No outward environment alone can produce man-
hood. The virtues of life spring from within.
Right thoughts and feelings, if consistently kept
in the foreground, inevitably lead to right acts.
The handsomest youth and the most beautiful
maiden may mar their beauty by a morose, cross-
tempered disposition or by nursing dissatisfaction
in the soul. O
February 1968
Improvement Era
TOURNEY
J#fDAWN
• Kaarlo Maki pulled the thick fur collar of his
coat tighter about his throat and tucked the edge
of his black woolen scarf under his fur hat. It
was bitter cold, too cold to be riding a bicycle and
too cold for an old man to be away from his stove
and hot cereal. His breath froze in ice crystals
on his moustache and fur collar and made the tiny
red blood vessels zigzag brightly through his
leathery cheeks. Stubbornly, his old legs pushed
the pedals around, and the tires crunched the
snowy crust on the ice.
He could have waited until the noon train, but
the morning milk train would get him there
faster. He heard the whistle off in the distance
and knew that the train was approaching the
paper factory. The tall smokestack of the factory
was becoming visible in the early morning light
of the Finnish February. Its column of white
smoke rose a few yards above the stack and then
bent itself flat to follow the wind to the south
horizon, making a white stream in the cold,
gray sky.
Kaarlo was puffing. The coat and two sweaters
held the warmth of his old body in and caused him
to perspire, but he dared not loosen his collar
in the cold.
He approached the ancient wooden station and
pedaled up to the bicycle rack at the front porch.
There were already several bicycles locked in the
rack. Some of them were bent and rusty, but
all had the same layer of frost crystals on the
handlebars and spokes. Kaarlo's bicycle fit easily
at the end of the rack, and he was glad to climb
off and lock it. The spring clamp snapped shut
when he pulled his leather satchel from the rear
fender. The ice crystals that stood straight out
on the brass lock of the bag turned into drops
of water when he entered the warm station. He
wiped water drops from his moustache and
loosened his collar and scarf.
The ticket agent, in a blue uniform, smiled at
Kaarlo. Kaarlo did not smile back but soberly laid
three one-mark bills on the tray.
"You look tired this morning, Kaarlo," the ticket
agent offered in sympathetic concern.
Kaarlo shrugged his shoulders and felt the
weight of his years crowd his strength. "I am an
By Eugene A. Hooper, Jr.
Eugene A. Hooper, Jr., a film splicer and shipper in the
Church's Genealogical Society, is a former missionary to Fin-
land and wrote "Journey at Dawn" to examine how through
the gospel one may find answers to personal dilemmas.
old man," he said. "Too old to lose my son."
The ticket agent was startled. "Has some-
thing happened to Matti?"
Kaarlo bowed his head in humiliation as he
muttered, "Something terrible. He says he will
become a Mormon!"
"It cannot be true! Matti knows better. What
is he thinking?"
"I do not know," Kaarlo said, his voice shaking
with indignation. "This is why I must go to him.
I must stop him before he throws his life away
and shames his family."
Kaarlo picked up his ticket and slowly walked
out to the waiting train. His heart was heavy as
he climbed the steps to the coach and found a
seat at the end of the car. The straight wooden
back of the seat exercised its discipline, and the
old man braced himself, with his hands clutching
the front edge of the seat. The jerking motion
of the train rocked Kaarlo from side to side, and
with each sway his son's name moved his tongue.
His old mind was bewildered and tired. The ques-
tions rocked him almost as hard as the train. "Why
do you do this to me ? Who do you love more than
your old papa?"
The bleak loneliness of the Finnish winter land-
scape reflected no sympathy or feeling of kindness
outside the dimly lit train. Occasionally a small
farmhouse would break the cold scene. Kaarlo
began to talk to himself in a quiet mumble. "I am
like one of those farmhouses, alone in a cold world,
and my son is like this train, puffing ahead on his
own steam and passing me by. He will forget me
and become trapped by that new religion."
Tears weakened his proud old face as he
thought of Helmi. Surely, if she were still alive,
Matti would not deliberately shame her. Better
for her to be dead than grieved by her son.
Kaarlo's back hurt against the wooden bench. He
was chilly and hungry and should not have left his
cottage without eating something. Perhaps he
would buy a bowl of broth when he arrived in
Oulu.
He looked at the other passengers in the coach
and wondered if they bore a grief such as his.
Here in Finland, he thought, the people should be
free from strange and harmful ideas of religion.
February 1968
. *». ' ft
^"f t r
' ;nt
■;
lit
li
liiip
§pi
Illustrated by Dale Kilbourn
The forests and lakes were close on every hand,
and man had but to tend his fields and gather his
family to him at evening time.
"Matti, my son," he murmured. "Come back
here to Kemi and to your papa. You can sell your
tools here."
The train was coming to a halt at the Oulu
station. Kaarlo watched the freight rails clip by,
and then he was looking down at the faces on the
platform. The train groaned and squealed as the
cold steel of tracks and wheels fought each other
to a stop. He pulled himself to his feet and
limped toward the door. A few people hurried
through the car, squeezing past him, and he felt
the cold escaping from them.
helped him climb off the train, and as he stepped
onto the deserted platform, the icy wind grabbed
at his face like a claw and stung until he was in
the station house. He stood for a few minutes
staring across the waiting room. The clock above
the ticket window showed 7:30, too late to catch
Matti at home and perhaps too early to visit him
at his store.
The little bags of candy and bowls of fruit at
the magazine stand reminded him that he had not
prepared a hot breakfast before he left home. A
cozy cafe would make a nice place to wait and to
think.
Before he left the station, he fixed his scarf
over his nose and mouth and pulled the fur hat
down even with his eyebrows. It was early yet,
and men dressed in brown leather work clothes
were shoveling dirt onto the icy streets from
horse-drawn wagons.
Kaarlo left the station and walked to a cafe
a few yards ahead. The air inside was steamy
and fragrant with the smell of hot soup and cooked
mush, and the place was crowded with men joking
and eating. He picked up a tray and helped him-
self to hot stew, black rye bread, and thick butter-
milk. The steaming tray was a bit of comfort to
his worried mind, and he took his time warming
and filling himself. The cold emptiness dissipated
gradually, as did the crowd.
Then he bundled himself up again and went out
into the cold. He crossed the street to the market
square where men and women, dressed in gray
Improvement Era
twill and black felt coats and black boots, were
setting up booths. The white canvas roofs were
badly stained from the weather, and Kaarlo
watched for a while as the wares were hung and
arranged under them. Helmi had tended such a
booth in Imatra, selling sauna bath brushes and
sponges. Until he was old enough for school, Matti
used to play around the booths. Kaarlo could re-
member Helmi pulling the heavy cart, with Matti
perched on top of it, up to the shed behind the
cottage.
He shook his head at the memory, and a fresh
surge of heaviness filled his soul as he made his
way across the square and up the street to Matti's
apartment. The landlady unlocked the door for
him, and he slowly shut it behind him. The place
was clean, and the modern furnishings were evi-
dence of Matti's success in business.
Kaarlo laid his wraps on a bench by the door
and set his leather satchel down beside it. The
clock showed the hour of ten. It would be a long
wait until evening, and he felt the strain of his
journey. Easing himself into a large chair, he
soon slept.
He awoke in mid-afternoon to the whistle of the
howling wind. The whirl of white outside the
window bleached the view and softened the after-
noon light. He stretched himself as much as his
bent limbs would allow and rose from the chair.
He felt rested in body but his soul was growing
more restless as he saw the hour nearing three.
The hard business of waiting confused his think-
ing, and a dozen dialogues passed through his
mind, each one growing more bitter as he argued
with his son until he was shouting and cursing
within himself. The gnarled old hand wiped the
sweat from his forehead.
"What will I say to my son?" he muttered, and
shrugged his shoulders in bewilderment.
He walked to the desk and switched on the
lamp. His eyes scanned the shelves and stopped.
For a moment he was stunned with bitterness;
then his anger mounted. He stretched out his
trembling hand, grabbed the book by its front
cover, and flung it wildly across the room. The
title page remained in his grip. He spat on the
words "Book of Mormon" and crushed the sheet
into a ball, twisting it in his hand.
He dropped on the sofa and stared in hatred
at the torn book. "Cursed book !" he snarled.
A picture of Matti as a soldier hung between
pictures of Kaarlo and Helmi on the wall opposite
the sofa. Kaarlo's gaze switched from the book
to the picture. "How proud and fine a son you
were in battle for your homeland," he whispered.
"How could such a fine mind like yours be trapped
by a heathen religion?"
He looked back to the torn book on the floor.
"What could such a book contain to lure my son?"
The howling of the wind had ceased outside the
window. Kaarlo felt the same emptiness draining
his heart as on the cold night when he lost Helmi.
It was during the winter war against Russia.
Helmi had volunteered with the women of the
town to gather firewood in the forest. It was
dangerous business to comb through the woods
so close to the lines of battle in eastern Finland,
and an undetected mine exploded as Helmi and
the cart full of wood passed over it. Kaarlo sent
little Matti to be cared for by his sister in Kemi
on the western coast until the war had ended. To
return to Imatra without Helmi seemed unthink-
able, and so Kaarlo also moved to Kemi.
Now he again felt a destructive force invading
his family.
"I must save my son !" he cried. "I'll expose this
enemy and make Matti see its danger!"
He rose tremblingly and walked to where the
book lay. Bending down, he picked it up and
carried it back to the desk. His shaking fingers
smoothed the crumpled pages and opened them to
the first chapter. The old eyes bowed closer to
the book and squinted until the words found clar-
ity. "I, Nephi, having been born of goodly
parents. . . ." The words caught in his throat.
"Matti, haven't you been born of goodly parents ?"
he cried aloud.
"Of course I have, Papa."
Kaarlo turned toward the door. Matti was
brushing the snow from his coat and beaming at
the sight of his father.
"When did you come, Papa? You shouldn't be
out in a storm like this."
Kaarlo's voice was trembling as he struggled
February 1968
to address his son. "Ah, the storm, the storm !
It is not so bad as this enemy which seeks to tear
you from your own papa!" He waved the book in
front of him.
"Papa, what do you mean? I am not being torn
from you. I want you to hear about the most
rewarding news I've been blessed to receive!"
"I will not hear of it!" Kaarlo exclaimed.
Matti let his coat and hat drop over his father's
wraps on the bench.
"The cold and dark make us cross and hungry.
Let me make a warm supper for you, Papa."
Kaarlo nodded and settled back down onto the
sofa. "Rewarding news, hah! Who brings this
news that shades your eyes?"
Matti came into the living room with a sack of
rice in his hands. "Two Americans who are fine
young men sent by the Lord. They will call on
me tonight. I want you to meet them."
"No!" Kaarlo shook his head. "I will not see
them."
Matti shrugged his shoulders and turned back
into the kitchen. Kaarlo's grip tightened on the
book until his knuckles were white; then he laid
it on the sofa and went into the kitchen. The meal
was hot and satisfying to the old man. His nerves
felt relaxed as he listened with pride as his son
reviewed the success of his store. A man so
wise and successful as Matti should not be easily
trapped by nonsense, Kaarlo thought. Perhaps
this thing was not nonsense or foolishness, but
certainly it was evil and deceiving.
Matti rose and began to clear the table.
"The Americans come in half an hour, Papa.
You will like them, you'll see."
Kaarlo shook his head. "I go to bed. You send
them away if you love your papa and your
homeland."
Matti felt his father's words bite into the joy
of his new faith.
"Let me help you into bed, Papa."
Matti shut the door between the living room
and the bedroom. He stood for a moment with
head bowed and hands clasped. The prayer for
the understanding of his father was short and
simple. As he opened his eyes he saw the
crumpled page on the floor and the closed book
on the sofa.
"What could make Papa hate it so much?"
If anyone were ever alone and needing comfort
and faith, Matti knew it must be his father. The
stubbornness against change and the lack of en-
thusiasm for life must be conquered, but how?
He heard the missionaries getting off the
elevator and hurried to the door to open it as they
rang. The two young men brushed the snow off,
their red faces shining with wide smiles as Matti
welcomed them inside. They joked and laughed
about the cold weather before getting down to
business. Matti felt the strength of their spirit
pour into his own new testimony as he visited
with them. How he wished that his father could
join in this happiness and light!
Elder Davis cleared his throat and asked Matti
if he would like to open their meeting with prayer.
The request caught him off guard, but he knelt
with the elders and began to pray. As he prayed he
thought of his father lying in the dark, alone
and bitter. ", . . and bless my father that he
may accept and understand thy truths, which I
must take upon myself."
He finished the prayer and sat down. The
missionaries were visibly touched by the sincerity
Improvement Era
of the prayer, and Elder Davis inquired about
Matti's father.
Kaarlo lay in the darkness trying to shut out
the conversation in the next room. The more he
fought it, the more he had to listen.
"Brother Maki, we've had a change in your
baptismal arrangements," the missionary was
saying.
"Good, good!" Kaarlo, in the next room, whis-
pered to himself.
The elder continued : "How would you like to be
baptized tomorrow afternoon rather than next
week?"
Kaarlo was rocked by panic. "Say no! Never!"
he shouted within himself.
"The reason for the change," Elder Davis con-
tinued, "is that the swimming hall has been re-
scheduled for competition next week. We have
the portable font coming on the midnight train
from Pori, and we can set it up in the chapel
tomorrow."
Matti looked toward the bedroom door and then
back to the elders. "What time shall I meet you
at the chapel?"
The tears shone in the eyes of Elders Davis and
Clark as smiles of gratitude spread across their
faces. Kaarlo's heart was sinking in hurt and
bitterness. The dark room seemed to be closing
tighter about him as he felt Helmi and now Matti
fading out of his life forever.
"Is there anything you would like to ask or
review before we get into, our discussion?" Elder
Davis asked.
Matti thought for a moment. "Yes, there is. I'd
like you to review the journey of man through the
Lord's plan of eternal life."
"The journey of man indeed !" Kaarlo coughed.
Elder Clark set up his flannel board and pro-
cee'ded to explain the plan of salvation as out-
lined in the scriptures. Matti answered the
questions with accuracy.
The whole story was inconceivable to Kaarlo.
Why, even the priest had declared at Helmi's
funeral that her spirit would rest forever in that
great beyond while her body remained forever in
the ground.
As Elder Clark finished the review, Elder Davis
added his testimony. Kaarlo heard him declare
that he knew that families would be reunited and
resurrected to live in the vigor of their manhood
and the beauty of their womanhood in the presence
of God, if they accepted God's plan here on earth.
The statement struck Kaarlo like a bolt of
lightning. "My Helmi alive and waiting for me?"
His heart was pounding. "Can it be true?" he
whispered.
How much longer the missionaries stayed was
unknown to Kaarlo. His mind was held captive
by the memory of his lovely Helmi. How was her
hair fixed ? In a braid, a bun, or flowing over her
shoulder? Yes, yes, that was it — long and lovely
and golden as the sun-warmed wheat. Her eyes
were blue as the summer sky is blue, and her skin,
clear and pink. Was he crying? The tears
trickled down his cheeks. Wonderful, gay Helmi!
Remember how she proudly stood in the door of
the little cottage by the lake and presented him
with his tiny son as he returned from the logging
camp? There she is now, standing on the little
boat dock at the lake with the picnic basket in one
arm and Matti in the other. How full of life and
youth and joy she is, with the warmth of summer
all about her. The old man stretched forth his
arms to enfold her tenderly. It was as if she
were there, vibrant and sweet, in the room with
him now.
Then came the ravages of war, and in the white
and empty bleakness of the winter forest she was
gone. Kaarlo felt himself standing in the little
cemetery by the church as her coffin was slowly
lifted from the cart and placed in the frozen
ground. The gray wooden box disappeared be-
neath the dirt and snow. "Helmi !" the old man
cried. "We had so little time !"
The voice of Elder Davis rang clear in his mind:
". . . and live in the beauty of their womanhood
forever."
"Is it true, is it true?" Kaarlo kept asking, as
he tossed and turned all night. First Helmi, then
the book he had torn, and then Matti danced be-
fore his vision through the long hours.
Perhaps he slept and dreamed — he could not
tell ; but the dull aching in his back and shoulders
reminded him that he had not rested. He sat
February 1968
up slowly and rested on the edge of the bed. The
room was still dark, but he shuffled his way to the
window and parted the drapes. The air was clear
and the scene still and sharp. He glanced toward
the clear black of the sky; the few stars that
remained in the pre-dawn were brilliant. The
pureness of the night flowed into his soul and
sharpened the longing he felt for Helmi. He stared
at the sky.
"Oh, tell me," he cried, "is it true what the
Americans say?" It was the first time he had
ever called upon any divine being. He stumbled
back to the bed and fell exhausted upon it. . . .
Matti threw back the covers and swung his
feet into his slippers before the alarm went off.
Today he would be baptized and take his first step
toward the kingdom of God ! He was excited and
happy; then he remembered his father's bitter-
ness. The worry he felt edged out the joy and
left him troubled as he washed and dressed. Be-
fore he left his room, he knelt down by the side
of his bed and prayed.
"Please, Father in heaven, help Papa to under-
stand what I must do." Peace returned to his
heart as he rose from his knees and went into the
kitchen. He fixed a breakfast tray and carried it
into his father.
Kaarlo opened his eyes as his son entered the
room. "You bring your old papa his breakfast
in bed? You are a good son."
"It's been a long time since I did something
good for you, Papa."
"Nonsense! You're always good to me."
Matti set the tray on Kaarlo's lap and watched
while the old man ate the hot mush. "Papa," he
hesitated, "I will be baptized today into the Mor-
mon Church."
Kaarlo nodded his head. "I know. I heard your
American friends speak of it last night."
Matti watched his father's eyes carefully, but
he could not read the expression behind them.
"Papa, I don't mean to hurt you or bring you
shame, but I have to join the Mormons. I know
that they speak the truth."
The old man searched his son's face before
speaking. "You have been a good son, always,
and you have never been dishonest with your
papa. Are you sure that this new religion is
the truth?"
"Yes, Papa, I am sure."
"Then I must ask you something else. Last
night the Americans said we live in youth and
fineness with God in a future life. Is my Helmi
really there, alive and waiting?"
The earnestness with which Kaarlo spoke
tugged at Matti's heart. With joyful faith he
answered, "Oh, yes! Don't you see, Papa? I have
prayed that the Lord would bless you with under-
standing, and he has answered my prayers !"
"I know," Kaarlo said. "I have prayed too, and
someday, perhaps, I shall be baptized a Mormon,
if they have room for an old man !"
Matti lifted the tray and smiled at his father
with a twinkle in his eye.
"You know, Papa? I too have been born of
goodly parents !" O
Feminine Agenda
By Mildred Ann Bazan
Although I'm aware it's the hour for sleep,
Some pertinent rendezvous I've yet to keep:
A chapter of Bronte, a diary page,
This week's computation of my sitting wage,
Tivo minutes of whirl in a dress that is new
(One must know beforehand what box pleats will do),
One hundred strokes of the brush to my hair,
And, last and best, meeting with God, in prayer!
10
Improvement Era
*'
Teaching
Conducted by the
Church School System
Illustrated by Dale Kilboutn
ONTACT !
By Nicholas Van Alfen
JnsiSut&'df Religion Instructor, Ogden, Utah
• The dawn was beginning to
chase the night shadows from a
United States airstrip in France
on the first of August 1917, as
the warning was flashed of ap-
proaching enemy planes. Ameri-
can fighter pilots soon were
bursting from the barracks, run-
ning in several directions. As the
pilots settled into their cockpits,
they anxiously waited to hear the
keyword pierce the crisp morning
air. Their comrades on the
ground gripped the propeller
blades of the planes and shouted,
"Contact!" Immediately a vigor-
ous pull on a blade brought the
welcome but deafening roar of
a powerful engine. Soon the
planes were rising into the dawn
to meet the challenge.
A successful point of contact
between the man on the ground
controlling the propellers and the
pilot in the plane waiting in an-
ticipation during these urgent
situations was an all-important
factor. There were times of great
concern when the shout "Con-
tact!" and a pull on the pro-
peller did not bring the roar
of the motor because of some
malfunction.
As if on an airstrip, a teacher
stands before his class; the
students are seated — the "switch"
February 1968
11
"To pass on unfounded, hearsay stories of a sensational nature ... is poor teaching."
is on. The hour is extremely
important, because there are
young lives looking to him for a
meaningful experience. The teach-
er may fail to pull the "propeller
blade," however, because the hour
seems too long for the little
preparation he has, so he delays
the takeoff. The result is that
there is no meaningful contact.
When a teacher vacillates by
spending too much time on non-
contributing details, such as a
lengthy roll call, which could be
handled another way, or rambling
about in an attempt to be enter-
taining, he does not instill the
feeling of a planned program in
the minds of his students. Stu-
dents will sit in anticipation at
the feet of a teacher who knows
where he is going and gets on his
way. A good teacher is eager to
present his material and is en-
thusiastic about what he has to
offer.
All of us are searching to find
contact with the meaningful
things that give life the spark and
purpose it should have. It is then
that we soar above mundane
thoughts and mundane living. The
point of contact found by stu-
dents in a meaningful experience
in a classroom may prove to be
a turning point in their lives. By
finding the points of contact in
the lives of class members, a
teacher can become the architect
of many souls through the use of
proper methods and knowledge.
Students become involved only
when a teacher's lesson enters
into the orbit of their experience.
A teacher can pull on the pro-
peller blade of nonlife-related
material for an hour and not even
get a sputter. Standing before a
class is like standing before
receiving stations that have their
dials variously set. It is the
teacher's challenge to influence
the class to tune in to the pro-
gram he has prepared for that
hour.
I remember, when I was a boy,
a small, well-worn frame house in
which lived an old man who
always kept the window shades
pulled down. We children were
afraid to go near it. No one
could see in, and we supposed
that he did not see out. He came
out of his house only after dark
to walk around the block a few
times. Our parents had little
trouble getting us to come in just
before dark each evening, even
though the old man never hurt
anyone. Then one very cold day
they found him dead in his small,
closed-in world. People knew his
name but that was all.
Very few people live alone in
little frame houses with drawn
shades. Many people, however,
do live alone with their problems,
which are often very serious and
sad. Sometimes even parents are
not aware of their own children's
problems, because they are so
busy with other things.
Students often have a drawn
shade covering their problems.
Teachers may be unaware of the
heartaches of a student sitting
only three feet away in a class-
room. The only way we will ever
know that others are sad and
may need help is for us to even-
tually raise by personal interest
that shade which is dividing their
problems from o'ur perception.
Only then will we be able to con-
tact each other heart-to-heart as
well as eye-to-eye.
In a teacher's life there should
be a minimum of drawn shades
between himself and his students.
There cannot be much meaning-
ful contact with a group of stu-
dents when a teacher does not
penetrate beyond the shadows
where the real person is to be
found.
For example, a good relation-
ship between a mother and her
children exhibits a most basic
principle of successful teaching.
This principle is her uninhibited
love for her children, which she
manifests in her concern, pa-
tience, and persistence. Her
contact with her children is on a
feeling level; thus, her little
"class" has full confidence in
their "teacher." In all teaching
situations, the feeling contact
leaves the most enduring im-
pression.
The use of imagination is an
excellent point of contact. For
example, the beauty of a gem is
not enhanced by exhibiting it in
the palm of the hand; its true
beauty is even inhibited in such
a situation. But this same stone
displayed in a lovely setting in-
creases in value to the eye and
seems more desirable.
The same is true of a meaning-
ful gem of life that possibly could
remain in a vague stage because
of inadequate explanation. Dis-
playing life's values in word pic-
tures, stories, and illustrations
makes them more real, vivid, and
meaningful in life's situations,
and the desire to possess such
values is stimulated.
To illustrate, consider the fol-
lowing: A honeybee moves from
flower to flower and plant to
plant. Some of these plants are
12
Improvement Era
bitter to the taste, while others ask himself, "Is what I am going in which I lived gathered in an
are sweet. The bee only extracts to teach reasonable? Does it fit early morning session prior to the
and stores the sweet that blesses into the total pattern of the general meeting of our stake con-
mankind. So it should be with teachings of the Church, the ference. Among other business
us. Out of the variety of life's New Testament, and modern taken up, we learned from our
experiences, one must store only scriptures? Do I understand visiting General Authority that
the sweet to become part of him. what I am talking about? Am I the presiding brethren were some-
If we choose, we may also store dabbling in the 'so-what' areas?" what concerned about a rash of
the bitter in our souls as we walk A teacher who is not mindful such stories abounding at the
through life, seeing only the ugly of these questions may short time. This member of the Gen-
and wrong and developing a sick- circuit some of the lives of his eral Authorities told us that he
ness of soul that leads to spiritual students through his contact with had been assigned to ascertain if
death. student thinking by adding to the there were validity to the inci-
Word pictures leave lasting im- already present problem about dents described. He had not sup-
pressions. The story of the Prodi- religion that students have in ceeded up to that time because
gal Son has special meaning to some areas of their college the persons supposedly involved
fathers who find contact with the education. in such stories were unidentified,
story or to sons who find them- Sensationalism may gain the There was one case in which
selves personally involved. Equal- temporary interest of a class, but the principal person in such a
ly effective are the stories of it is a poor substitute for a realis- story was named, but when this
the Good Samaritan, the Sower, tic and rational approach to person was approached he was
the woman found in adultery, and religion and life. To become ab- quite amused because he knew
many others. These and other sorbed in the speculative, to teach nothing about it. The visiting
qualities made Christ the Master the future as if it has been blue- brother clearly indicated that we
Teacher, after whom we try to printed in detail by the prophets as leaders in the stake should
pattern our teaching. of the past, is not the true image strongly discourage these things.
Men and women who teach, that should represent religion in Teachers who are responsible for
however, should not go on and on the lives of young people. To directing the minds of others
borrowing from the Master alone seek contact with student minds must also avoid such speculative
but should become imaginative through passing on unfounded, and unfounded stories. The
and creative in their own right, hearsay stories of a sensational Apostle Paul said to the Church
Just as Christ's source was the nature, involving supposed experi- in his day, "Prove all things; hold
world around him, so should our ences by this or that person who fast that which is good." (I Thess.
modern world and experiences be is never present for verification, 5:21.)
rich sources for stories and illus- is poor teaching. We have a lofty image of men
trations that will contact lives. One would have to stretch his who can heal the body or send a
The days of witch hunting, imagination enormously to accept spacecraft to distant planets, and
superstition, and ignorance have some of the stories that caught these achievements are important,
yielded to human progress and fire sometime ago about the Among the most precious assets
divine revelation. Young people Three Nephites. One or all, de- of society, however, are effective
today have the advantage of being pending upon the story, were teachers who develop young
exposed to education and critical supposed to be hitchhiking on the minds. The men and women who
thinking. Continuing education highways delivering messages of have paid the price to become
is refining the thought processes warning to this generation of the successful architects of the soul
of our developing youth to the Church through considerate driv- through making meaningful con-
point where they want rational ers who had given them rides, tacts with young lives are the
answers. Every time a teacher During this period the bishoprics hope of our future generations
of religion faces a class, he must and high councilors of the stake in the Church. O
February 1968 13
A New Look at the
Pearl of Great Price
By Dr. Hugh Nibley
Part I. Challenge and Response (Continued)
Amateurs All
• The ever-increasing scope of knowledge necessary to cope
with the great problems of our day has led to increasing
emphasis on a maxim that would have sounded very strange
only a few years ago: "There are no fields — there are only
problems!" — meaning that one must bring to the discussion
and solution of any given problem whatever is required to
understand it: If the problem calls for a special mathematics,
one must get it; if it calls for three or four languages, one
must get them; if it takes 20 years, one must be prepared
to give it 20 years — or else shift to some other problem.
Degrees and credentials are largely irrelevant where a prob-
lem calls for more information than any one department
can supply or than can be packaged into any one or a dozen
degrees.
Now the Pearl of Great Price presents a number of big
problems with which no Egyptologist has ever coped. A
knowledge of Egyptian is the first step toward a solution of
such problems, but it is by no means the last. Still, first
things come first: "Ancient Egypt," wrote one of the earliest
modern researchers in the field, "is accessible only to a
small number, because of the length and the difficulties
of the initiation into the language of the hieroglyphs. . . .
But can a historian . . . renounce the direct examination of
the original documents, which become every day more
varied and more numerous, without violating the first rule
of his discipline?"42
Like it or not, we are stuck with Egyptian, and it is only
fair to note, in defense of the specialists, that if authori-
tarianism can be a great mischief, the quackery to which it
gives rise can be even worse, a quack being anybody posing
as an authority — a shadow of a shadow. There is a place
in the world for professionalism and even for "authority"
in science, as Thomas S. Kuhn has explained at great length;
every field has its "paradigms" that must be mastered
thoroughly so that they can be used as tools, quickly, deftly,
with unconscious skill, in the processes of problem solving.
The expert is one who knows how to use those tools, and
because the Doctors have not chosen to use their knowledge
in a serious study of the Pearl of Great Price, it does not
follow that such knowledge is not important for such
study — rather, it is indispensable.
Any ancient text is utterly without meaning to one who
does not know the language in which it is written. Egyp-
tian, however, being written in pictures, has been held
to enjoy a unique status among the mysteries. Away back
in the fifth century Horapollon had the idea that by
attributing a symbolic meaning to each little picture and
putting the symbols together, one could discover the mean-
ing of any Egyptian text. This theory was adhered to by
would-be translators of Egyptian right down to the time of
Champollion, and it still has its advocates among Latter-day
Saints who would discover ever-new secrets in the Fac-
similes and identify battered Indian rock-carvings with
Egyptian glyphs.
The attempt to give one's own interpretation to picture-
writing is hard to resist. At the general conference in
April 1967, for example, somebody circulated a mimeo-
graphed document bearing the frank and forthright title,
14
Improvement Era
And though he denied
that his brochure was "circulated
especially among the students of Latter-day
Saint high schools,"
he did admit putting it in the hands
of those who would see
that it got there.
"Why Would Anyone Want to Fight the Truth?" The
"truth" in this case consisted of the author's common-sense
observations on the nature of Egyptian, such as, that an
Egyptian symbol written with four elements "could be no
more than a single Egyptian word." But ancient languages
have a way of ignoring our modern common-sense rules;
the Egyptians in particular had an incurable weakness for
abbreviations, omissions, transpositions, puns, and crypto-
grams, and their writings are full of signs which, even
when we know their meaning (which is by no means
always the case), require at least a sentence or two to
explain them. Anyone is free to guess at the meaning of
any Egyptian phrase, and one of the most picturesque as-
pects of the discipline is a process that never ceases, day
and night, year in and year out, by which Egyptologists are
constantly altering and improving on each other's trans-
lations. But one is not free to present his interpretation
as "The Truth," and then ask in hurt and accusing tones,
"Why Would Anyone Want to Fight the Truth?" "I have
acted upon a principle to which I attach the greatest im-
portance," wrote A. H. Gardiner, the dean of Egyptian
grammarians; "even a wrong idea is better than no idea
at all, and progress in translation can only come by pre-
senting to the critics some definite objective to tilt at."43 So
far was he from thinking that the experts ever have a
corner on truth!
The specialists, however, can hardly be blamed for hesi-
tating to become involved in arguments with just anybody,
for they are daunted by a peculiarly insidious occupational
hazard.44 The air of mystery and romance that has always
surrounded things Egyptian has never failed to attract swarms
of crackpots, cultists, half-baked scholars, self- certified ex-
perts, and out-and-out charlatans. The poor Egyptologist,
constantly confronted with such characters and their antics,
is understandably on his guard, quick to suspect and ever
alert to the slightest signs of wishful thinking or free and
easy logic. At the same time every Egyptologist is something
of a crusader who feels bound to foster and encourage inter-
est in his important but neglected field; he is naturally and
humanely hesitant to give any sincere seeker the brushoff,
or to offend any possible future donor or patron of his art.
In addition, the Egyptologist is himself a romantic at heart,
or else he would never have chosen such a field for himself,
and has a secret and sometimes rather obvious kinship with
the glamor hunters. That, of course, makes him even more
circumspect in his behavior; he can't afford to get involved
or identified with such creatures, he shies like a thorough-
bred horse at every rag and tatter of nonsense in the breeze,
and he avoids religious controversies like death itself. To
expect a sympathetic word for Joseph Smith from such
people is, of course, asking too much — a serious Egyptologist
just can't risk it. Even to display too lively an interest in
the Pearl of Great Price or the Book of Mormon has been
known to jeopardize one's professional standing.
Bishop Spalding Prepares His Surprise
Bishop Spalding is described by those who knew him as
a charming man, a convincing speaker, "a controversialist
by nature,"45 an enthusiastic intellectual who "follows
February 1968
15
those who go to the farthest frontiers of research in modern,
or higher, criticism . . . and fearlessly accepts the results
of that school of thought,"40 an ardent social reformer who,
while urging the Mormons to come over to his one "his-
toric faith," regrets that the same Mormons are actually
doing what he only wishes his own people would do in the
way of organized activity, while he labors "to help 'sweep
and garnish' the house of faith with the whisk broom of
Marxian sophistries."47
This man simply could not square the supernaturalist
claims of Joseph Smith with the enlightened thinking of
1912. He made such a show of fair play and was so diligent
in procuring the support of the most eminent scholars in
putting the Prophet to the test that even B. H. Roberts
felt constrained to confess, "his method ... is entirely
legitimate, and the spirit of it [is] irreproachable."48
But others, taking a closer look, were not so sure:
". . . while the bishop appears to treat his subject with
fairness," wrote Osborne J. P. Widtsoe, "[and] while he
tries to impress his reader with his openness, his frankness,
his candor, his honesty, yet his every argument is based
upon some unfair implication, some false premise. . . .
His fairness is but surface deep."49 This grave charge is
fully borne out in an interview published in the New York
Times, in which the bishop's magnanimous spirit of love
and affection for the Mormons takes on a decidedly greenish
tinge:
"The breaking up of Mormonism through the desertion
of the intellectual part of its membership is the failure for
the Prophet Smith's church which Bishop Spalding foresees.
It is for that reason that he prefers to address the Mormons
as his friends rather than to attack them."50
Spalding's friend, Dr. Frederick J. Pack, perceived the
wily stratagem thus freely admitted by Bishop Spalding
when he was far away from Utah, and commented on its
effectiveness: ". . . the apparent fairness shown by Dr.
Spalding made far into the ranks of the Latter-day Saints
a well prepared path along which the conclusions of his
article might readily follow."51 And when a banker friend
from the East asked the good bishop, "Why not leave the
Mormons alone?" he replied, "Well, I must feel about
their acceptance of what is intellectually and morally un-
true, just as you would feel if you knew a group of people
were coining . . . counterfeit money."52 If Dr. Spalding
had ever heard of the Constitution, which explicitly pro-
vides that holding a wrong opinion about anything is not
a crime, as counterfeiting is, he still could not, for all his
vaunted liberalism, stand the thought that a religion whose
teachings he believed to be false should be permitted to
stay in operation.
As he went about with his sweet strategic smile ("He
writes to the Mormons in a kindly mood," says the Times),
the bishop was working hard on his demolition project.
"Much of Bishop Spalding's work," according to the inter-
view in the Times, "was done in the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in this city."53 This suggests that the final scheme
took shape only after a number of other approaches had
proven ineffectual. Many a better scholar than Dr. Spalding
has discovered that the revelations of Joseph Smith that
look so delightfully vulnerable at first sight become more
difficult to refute the more carefully one studies them. "The
Bishop, it is said, gave a liberal portion of his time and
thought for some years to this literary production, fully
expecting that when it should appear in print, it would
signal the end of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints."54 To compile the little book of but eight very brief
letters would take no very great amount of time or effort —
what was Dr. Spalding doing all those years? That his
long and zealous labors should have brought forth so little
is in itself a strong point in Joseph Smith's favor.
But Spalding made the best psychological use of the
little that he had (an old game with ministers), catching
the Mormons completely off guard when he finally "fired
[his] broadside at us," as Professor N. L. Nelson put it:
". . . think, man," he wrote to his old friend, the bishop,
"of the 'imprudence' of it! without a declaration of war,
and in a time of profound peace." Dr. Spalding was
counting on just that surprise to spread dismay and con-
fusion, but though the burst was impressive, "as regards
three-fourths of us, the effect was purely spectacular — a
compound of smoke and noise."55
Spalding's avowed purpose was to save "thousands of
young men and women" from "the hopelessly illogical,
untruthful, unspiritual, and immoral system of Joseph
Smith, Jr."56 And though he denied that his brochure was
"circulated especially among the students of the Latter-day
Saint high schools," he did admit putting it in the hands
of those who would see that it got there.57 The appeal to
intellectual honesty without any insistence on hard study
can always count on having some effect among those who
wish to be thought intellectual, and R. C. Webb noted
that the Spalding plan capitalized on that snob appeal
which is never lost in academic circles.58 Hence it was not
surprising that when a valedictory speaker at the University
of Utah two years later issued the routine call for greater
freedom of thought, his boldness was nationally advertised
by a visiting professor to the university as the direct fruit
of Spalding's demonstration to the Mormons that "one of
their sacred books is spurious."59 Miffed when the Mormons
refused to lie down because he said "bang," Bishop Spalding
declared that his project "has become not only a test of
the competency of the First Presidency of the Church, but
also of the reliability of the present head of the church,"
since the latter had been unwise enough to believe Joseph
Smith instead of Spalding's experts.60 But it is high time
to take a closer look at the famous test.
16
Improvement Era
"Just the Test We Need"
The Reverend Spalding's book is dedicated "To my many
Mormon friends — who are as honest searchers after the
truth" as he hopes he is himself. This humane and generous
approach caught the Mormons off guard, as it was meant
to do. "The manifest fairness of the inquiry and the appar-
ently well founded conclusions," wrote Professor Pack,
"came as somewhat of a surprise to the 'Mormon' people,"
who were not accustomed to the soft sell.61 The book opens
with the magnanimous admission that others have been
impetuous, ill-informed, discourteous, and unfair in judging
the Mormons, and that the time has come for a cool, fair-
minded, objective testing of the claims of the Prophet. In
particular, the Book of Mormon "has never had the serious
examination which its importance demands."02 To correct
this oversight, the author then launches into as rigged and
spurious a test of prophetic inspiration as was ever devised
by the Scribes and Pharisees.
Beginning with the statement, "If the Book of Mormon
is true, it is, next to the Bible, the most important book in
the world," Spalding notes that no definitive test of that
book's authenticity is possible at this time, but suggests
that it would be quite possible to test Joseph Smith's com-
petence as a translator by examining not the Book of Mor-
mon but another of his translations, that contained in the
Pearl of Great Price under the title of the Book of Abraham.
In this document, according to Bishop Spalding, "we have
just the test we need of Joseph Smith's accuracy as a trans-
lator."03
And he is right. Here we have at our disposal all the
necessary resources for making an almost foolproof test.
Moreover, it was Joseph Smith himself who first proposed
and submitted to the test. When the papyri of the Book of
Abraham first came into his hands, the Prophet, having
learned that their owner, Michael H. Chandler, had gone
out of his way to solicit the opinions of the experts in the
big cities where he had exhibited his mummies, went into
a room by himself and wrote out his interpretation of some
of the symbols; then he invited Mr. Chandler to compare
what he had written with the opinions of "the most
learned." Chandler did so, and was properly impressed,
voluntarily giving Joseph Smith a signed statement:
". . . to make known to all who may be desirous, con-
cerning the knowledge of Mr. Joseph Smith, Jun., in de-
ciphering the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic characters in
my possession, which I have, in many eminent cities, showed
to the most learned; and, from the information that I could
ever learn, or meet with, I find that of Mr. Joseph Smith,
Jun., to correspond in the most minute matters. [Signed:]
Michael H. Chandler."04
Parley P. Pratt suggests that Chandler might have "on
one occasion met with an individual who was enabled to
decipher a small portion, or, at least, to give an opinion
of what he supposed its meaning to be," since nobody in
America could really read the stuff.65 Orson Pratt put it
differently: "Mr. C [handler] had also obtained from
learned men the best translation he could of some few
characters, which however, was not a translation, but more
in the shape of their ideas with regard to it, their acquaint-
ance with the language not being sufficient to enable them
to translate it literally."66
Strangely enough, this last statement exactly fits Dr.
Spalding's own eight experts, as we shall see. But whatever
the competence of the informants, in Chandler's day or
Spalding's, the point here is that it is Joseph Smith who
actually suggests and carries out the very test the bishop
devised. It was also Joseph Smith's idea, it will be recalled,
"We have at our disposal
all the necessary resources
for making
an almost foolproof test."
to submit copies of the original writing from the plates of
the Book of Mormon to the best scholars in America for
their frank opinion. Granted again that nobody could read
the "Anthon Transcript" either then or today, it was still
very important for the leading antiquarians in the country
to be given a chance to speak their piece, lest the world say
forever after: "Joseph Smith never dared to show his mythi-
cal manuscript to real scholars; he never gave the experts a
chance to express an opinion about it!" Whatever opinions
Professor Anthon expressed about the transcript, his letters
show that he was indeed given ample opportunity to study
the characters and express an opinion about them.
The Prophet Joseph, then, is willing enough to undergo
the most objective tests, but Bishop Spalding will not let
him! The least the latter could have done would have been
to follow the classic procedure used in the vindication of
the cuneiform scholars many years before. In 1857 that
same Ernest Renan who was loudly declaring Jesus to be a
myth was telling the public that nobody could read cunei-
form— that the Assyriologists were simply fooling themselves
and others. So to* put everyone's mind at ease, Sir George
Grote sent a cuneiform text to four scholars, requesting
each one to give his interpretation of the thing; then it was
a simple matter to compare the answers and let the public
decide whether these men really knew what they were
doing or not.67
This was obviously the procedure indicated for dealing
with the Facsimiles. Joseph Smith had given his interpre-
tation of the three ancient Egyptian documents and had
challenged the world to give its own interpretation of the
February 1968
17
same. So one had only to do what Sir George did, that is,
send the three Facsimiles from the Pearl of Great Price to
various Egyptologists without comment, requesting each one
to give his interpretation of them. Then Bishop Spalding
could open the envelopes publicly and invite the world to
compare the readings of the experts with each other and
with Smith's ideas. What could be fairer and simpler?
Joseph Smith had put all the ingredients for a clear and
foolproof test into Spalding's hands, and even shown him
how to go about it — and Spalding threw it all away! R. C.
Webb observed, ". . . it might have occurred to an 'honest
searcher after truth,' ... to have removed the captions from
these figures. . . . Such an 'honest searcher' should have
known perfectly well that 'scholars' would object to and
denounce Smith as a 'scab translator.' "68 That is, it was
absolutely imperative to get the experts' opinions before
showing them Smith's answer, just as the Prophet had
handed his interpretations to Chandler before he knew what
the others had said, leaving it to Mr. Chandler to compare
them.
But instead of calmly asking each scholar for his read-
ing and then letting the public judge for itself, Bishop
Spalding, as he reports it, sent "the original texts, together
with his [Smith's] interpretations ... to competent schol-
ars," with the idea that "if they declared his translation to
be correct, then it must be accepted as true."69 The ques-
tion put to the specialists was not "What is your interpre-
tation of these things?" but instead, "Here is what the
notorious Joseph Smith says about these Egyptian docu-
ments; is he right or wrong?" Stating the question thus
not only made it very easy for the doctors to answer with
a terse "yes" or "no," but also carefully set the stage to
avoid any possible danger that one of the correspondents
might in an unguarded moment drop a word in favor of
Smith. Professor Pack observed that since Bishop Spalding
"has evidently written for opinions to a large number of
scholars" it might be in order to ask whether any replies
more or less favorable to Joseph Smith had been withheld,
"whether any disharmonious statements may have been
received and not published," since the published letters are
very few and very brief.70 Even with such precautions, the
bishop does not trust his jury, but prefaces their remarks
with 17 pages of elaborate argument to demonstrate the
impossibility of Joseph Smith's being a true prophet no
matter what the experts may say.
Of the letters that make up his book, Dr. Spalding re-
ports: "It seemed necessary ... to copy in full the letters from
the experts exactly as I secured them."71 With such meticu-
lous and commendable care to see that the reader knows just
what is going on, it is strange indeed that the most impor-
tant letter of all is missing, namely, the covering letter that
went with the request for an opinion from each of the
authorities. For that is the letter to which they are replying,
the letter that set up the experiment and determined the
state of mind in which each of the participants approached
the problem. "This inquiry you claim to be of transcendent
importance to the world," wrote Dr. John A. Widtsoe to
Bishop Spalding later. "If you are sincere in this . . . you
certainly would not be ready to pronounce final judgment
on the basis of eight or eleven letters written in answer to,
only Heaven knows, what questions you propounded."72
(Italics added.) As a scientist, Dr. Widtsoe knew that the
most important thing in writing up an experiment is a
minute and accurate account of the exact procedure followed
— and that is precisely the part of the report that Dr.
Spalding chose to omit.
Whatever the covering letter said (and none was ever
"... it is strange indeed
that the most important letter
of all is missing. . . .':
made public), it or they completely destroyed that atmo-
sphere of cool and detached impartiality which Dr. Spalding
declared himself so anxious to achieve. Dr. Mercer, the
leader of the band, admits that "ill-temper was shown"
and that "several of the scholars were disgusted at what
they sincerely believed to be an imposition — 'righteous
wrath,' perhaps."73 But he insists that religion has nothing
to do with this righteous wrath — "the letters were not
prejudiced,"74 and he testifies as one of the jury "that
Bishop Spalding did not in any way, either intentionally or
unintentionally, prejudice the witnesses."75 All he had to do
to prejudice the whole company was simply to mention
the name of Joseph Smith, but no, these men, though three
of them are ministers of Spalding's church, expressed only "a
scorn which was due to the crudeness of the linguistic work
of the Prophet. . . . They condemned it purely on linguis-
tic grounds."70 To labor the point, since Mercer admits
that it is a very important one, "the animus evident in the
communications of Sayce and Petrie is purely because of
linguistic, and not because of religious reasons."77 Why
linguistic animus in a field in which the experts are con-
stantly correcting each other's translations? Is scientific
animus any less prejudiced than religious animus? Mercer
isn't kidding anybody: by bringing Joseph Smith into the
picture from the very first, Bishop Spalding effectively
loaded the dice — from then on only one game was possible.
Some Basic Misconceptions
Not only do all of Spalding's jury labor under certain
serious misconceptions, but their verdict is in every case
18
Improvement Era
Important
and
stimulating
reading
1. LET'S TALK
by Dr. Lindsay R. Curtis $2.95
A medical doctor looks at the social, moral, and
spiritual problems which confront us today. He
deals forthrightly and factually with the use of
drugs, smoking, glue sniffing, alcohol, heart at-
tacks, sexual problems and promiscuity, food fad-
ism, and many other timely subjects. A book that
can equip you to meet the challenges of the world
around you, and the temptations within.
2. KEY TO HAPPINESS
by Beatrice M. Sparks
$3.95
Written especially to high school and college-age
girls, this book contains the secrets that make life
a happy and rewarding experience. Foreword by
Laraine Day.
3. A MORE EXCELLENT WAY
by Neal A. Maxwell
$2.95
An outstanding book that deals with the develop-
ment of leadership qualities, this volume will be
the MIA leadership training text for 1968-69. It
will also be a valuable aid to the priesthood leader-
ship training program.
4. IT'S SMART TO BE A LATTER-DAY SAINT
by LaRue C. Longden $2.50
Here, for Latter-day Saints of all ages, is a timely
and readable explanation of exactly why a life of
obedience to the gospel offers unmatched happi-
ness and peace of mind.
5. MEET THE MORMONS
by Doyle and Randall Green
$2.95
A brand new edition of this profusely illustrated
introduction to the Church and its beliefs. Many
beautiful new color plates, and completely up-to-
date with the latest statistics on the Church.
Printed on deluxe stock — an ideal gift book.
6. DOCTRINAL COMMENTARY ON THE
PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
by Dr. Hyrum Andrus $4.95
Scholarly analysis of the scriptures that have
been in the news recently, with the discovery of
papyri formerly in the possession of Joseph Smith.
This commentary is essential reading for all stu-
dents of latter-day scripture.
February 1968
19
determined by those misconceptions. ". . . all the
learned doctors," wrote Osborne J. P. Widtsoe, ". . . seem
to have labored under the impression that the original
manuscript of the Book of Abraham was available, that
the three fac-similes . . . constitute that original manuscript,
and that the inscriptions on those fac-similes were 'written
by his [Abraham's] own hand.' To one who is acquainted
with Church history, there could be made no representation
farther from the truth than this of Bishop Spalding's con-
cerning the Book of Abraham."78 Yet it was on these three
incorrect assumptions that the experts based all their argu-
ments against Joseph Smith. Consider the three points.
First of all, Joseph Smith did not draw the Facsimiles;
they were the work of a professional wood engraver, Reuben
Hedlock, who undertook the job on February 23, 1842, at
the Prophet's request, and finished it just a week later.79
It was, as we shall see, a very creditable piece of work, but
the miserable copies that Bishop Spalding circulated among
his jury of experts made a very poor impression, and their
raw clumsiness was in every case attributed to the Prophet
himself. Some critics have noted that some of the numbers
that have been added to Facsimile 2 are upside down, and
have again assumed that Joseph Smith put them that way;
but as R. C. Webb points out, "There is no evidence before
us that Smith is responsible for it."80
The commonest objection to the authenticity of the
Facsimiles is that they are of too late a date to have been
drawn by Abraham. But Joseph Smith never claimed that
they were autographic manuscripts or that they dated from
the time of Abraham. ". . . with W. W. Phelps and Oliver
Cowdery as scribes," he writes as of July 1835, "I com-
menced the translation of some of the characters or hiero-
glyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the rolls
contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of
Joseph of Egypt."81 (Italics added.) It is and was common
to refer to any author's works as his writings, whether he
penned them himself or dictated them to others. The Book
of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price itself, for example,
are both writings of Joseph Smith, though written down
entirely by the hands of other men and women.
Men of such importance as Abraham and Joseph in
Egypt would surely have followed the accepted custom and
dictated their "writings" to scribes. The system is clear in
the book of Jarom, verse 14, where we are referred to "the
writings of the kings, or those which they caused to be
written," and elsewhere in the Book of Mormon we are
told of writings even "by the hand of" Mormon, Nephi,
Moses, Omni, and others, and even "by the finger of God"
(Alma 10:2), and also of a letter of Giddianhi sealed with
his own hand — yet the plates from which the Book of
Mormon was translated were largely the work of Mormon
and were never seen by some of the men whose very hands
supposedly had written them. As George Q. Cannon ex-
plained, "These constituted the writings of Abraham — the
text by Abraham's own hand; though there is nothing to show
that this text had not been widely copied, and that this par-
ticular [manuscript] may not, in fact, have been a copy 500
years after Abraham's day."82 J. M. Sjodahl assumes that it
was a copy: "As the work proceeded, he [Joseph Smith] be-
came convinced that one of the rolls of papyrus contained a
copy of a book written by Abraham."83 And Osborne Widt-
soe opined that "this particular roll [the Book of Abraham]
may or may not have been written by Abraham's own hand.
Possibly it was a copy of Abraham's original manuscript."84
From the way the expression is used in the scriptures
and by the brethren, it is clear that when a piece was said
to be by its author's "own hand," what is meant is that
"Joseph Smith
never claimed they
were autographic manuscripts
. ... of Abraham."
he originally wrote or dictated it. Even when Wilford
Woodruff reports in his journal for February 18, 1842, that
"Joseph the Seer has presented us some of the Book of
Abraham, which was written by his own hand . . . ," it means
that the Book of Abraham is not merely a book about
Abraham, of which many are known in the apocryphal
literature, but one actually written by him. Actually, what
the Prophet "presented" to the Saints, who had seen the
papyri a hundred times, was his own rendering of the book,
which of course was not literally written by the hand of
Abraham.
It was only to be expected, human nature being what
it is, that the announcement that the writings of Abraham
and Joseph had been found with some mummies should
have promptly given rise to the rumor that Joseph Smith
was in possession of "the bodies of Abraham, Abimelech,
(the king of the Philistines), Joseph, who was sold into
Egypt, &c, &c." And it was just as natural that the enemies
of the Prophet should circulate the charge "that the pur-
chasers of these antiquities" were spreading such rumors
"for the purpose of attracting the attention of the multitude,
and gulling the unwary." These reports, the Prophet wrote
in December 1835, were "utterly false. Who these ancient
inhabitants of Egypt were, I do not at present say."85 He
was not leaping at conclusions or claiming revelations on
all things; indeed, the mummies did not particularly interest
him, and he only consented to let Chandler have the high
price he asked for them because he could procure the papyri
in no other way: ". . . Mr. Chandler told him that he
would not sell the writings, unless he could sell the mum-
20
Improvement Era
mies. . . ."86 The mere sight of the mummies did not
excite Joseph Smith, and neither did the rolls of papyri
hefore he knew what was on them: they were just "some-
thing rolled up . . . which, when examined, proved to be
two rolls of papyrus." It was only after the mummies had
been bought and the rolls examined that the brethren
discovered, "much to our joy," how important they were.87
"The characters," Joseph Smith reported, "are such as you
find upon coffins of mummies — hieroglyphs, etc.," that is,
quite ordinary stuff, to look at them.88 It is amusing to see
how the Spalding specialists petulantly declare the Fac-
similes, which they confess themselves unable to read, to
be to all appearances nothing but perfectly ordinary Egyp-
tian documents. Joseph Smith could have told them that.
The Prophet made no dogmatic statement as to how
the writings got in with the mummies, and Church mem-
bers speculated freely on the subject. "It is supposed,"
wrote Parley P. Pratt, "they were preserved in the family
of the Pharaoh and afterwards hid up in the embalmed
body of the female with whom they were found."89 The
reporter of a local newspaper, after being shown the mum-
mies by Mother Smith, wrote a satirical account of how
Joseph in Egypt had a roll of papyrus, delivered to him in a
wooden box — by an angel, of course — "which was to be
buried by him with the family of one of the patriarchs . , .
Joseph . . . depositing the case on the Queen's breast, where
it lay until the discovery of the 'brass plates'. . . ."so
Behind the usual garbling of the familiar motifs, one may
detect another version of Brother Pratt's speculation.
Actually, ancient Egyptian documents have been found
buried with mummies of later date. The manuscript of the
famous Ramesseum Dramatic Text, written to be buried
with a king, was found laid away on the mummy of a
private citizen 200 years after the time it was written —
and even then it was copied down from still older sources.
"How this manuscript . . . came into the private library
of the . . . Theban in whose grave it was found," wrote
Professor Sethe, "is a question which of course can never
be answered."91 It may not be without significance that
our Pearl of Great Price mummies were also found in
Thebes, and that some other mummies found there, notably
those accompanied by those rare and peculiar documents
known as hypocephali (Fac. 2 is a hypocephalus), had
lying on their breasts just such rolls of papyri, apparently
documents of considerable importance, but not well enough
preserved to be read.92 Mummies themselves were "often
re-embalmed by the priests and toted from tomb to tomb —
for centuries."93 Furthermore, when documents became
worn out from age or use it was quite proper to make a
copy, which was thenceforth regarded exactly as if it were
the original writings.94
Bishop Spalding's announcement that he submitted to
the specialists "the original text," and that "the original
texts with the Prophet's translation are available for our
investigation" is simply not true. It makes all the difference
in the world what particular text a scholar has to work
with, as a comparison of the recently discovered original
of Facsimile 1 with the copies of it that Spalding sent to the
critics should make clear to anyone. O
(To be continued)
FOOTNOTES
42Maxence de Rochemonteix, Bibliotheque Egyptologique (Paris, 1894), Vol. 3,
p. 3.
■"A. H. Gardiner, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 9 (1924), p. 6.
'"This theme was often discussed by G. Maspero, e.g. in Bibliotheque Egypto-
logique, Vol. 29, pp. 269-276; Vol. 1 (1893), pp. viff, in which Maspero dis-
cusses his own changing ideas. On the dangerous appeal of Egypt to amateurs,
A. Weigall, Tutankhamen and Other Essays (London, 1923), Ch. 3, and The
Glory of the Pharaohs (London, 1923), Ch. 5.
"SR. C. Webb, Era, Vol. 17, p. 565. Webb paints an intellectual portrait
of Spalding in this long article, pp. 565ff.
■»°B. H. Roberts, Deseret News, Dec. 19, 1912, p. 11.
4TWebb, op. cit., pp. 568ff, 577; the quote is from p. 569.
^Roberts, Era, Vol. 16, p. 310.
49Osborne J. P. Widtsoe, Era, Vol. 16, p. 594, illustrating this by examples
on pp. 595-97. - . .
mNew York Times, Magazine Section, Dec. 29, 1912, p. 3.
^Frederick J. Pack, Era, Vol. 16, pp. 333-34.
G2R. C. Webb, Era, Vol. 17, p. 566, quoting from Spalding's Utah Survey.
^New York Times, loc. cit., p. 1.
"J. M. Sjodahl, Era, Vol. 16, p. 1100.
KN. L. Nelson, Era, Vol. 16, p. 603.
^Webb, op. cit., p. 565.
^Editorial in Era, Vol. 16, p. 378; cf. New York Times, loc. cit., p. 1.
r>8R. C. Webb. See the remarks of E. J. Banks, Literary Digest, July 10, 1915,
p. 67.
59The Banks article (see above) is fully discussed by Sterling B. Talmage in
Era, Vol. 16, pp. 770-76.
«F. S. Spalding, Era, Vol. 16, p. 611.
•^Pack, op. cit., p. 334.
62Spalding, Joseph Smith as a Translator, p. 4.
wIbid., p. 18.
^Documentary History of the Church, Vol. 2, p. 235, from The L.D.S. Mes-
senger & Advocate, Vol. 3 (Dec. 1835), p. 235.
^Parley P. Pratt, Millennial Star, Vol. 3 (July 1842), p. 46.
69Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 20 (1878), p. 65.
07 Encyclopedia Britannica, XI Edition (1910), Vol. 6, p. 308 (s.v. "Chron-
ology").
ssWebb, Era, Vol. 16, p. 1078.
69Spalding, op. cit., p. 13.
70Pack, op. cit., p. 335.
^Spalding, Era, Vol. 16, p. 611.
72John A. Widtsoe, Era, Vol. 16, p. 617.
73S. A. B. Mercer, The Utah Survey, Vol. 30, p. 12.
■"Ibid., p. 10.
^Ibid., p. 7.
™Ibid., p. 9.
"'"Ibid., p. 9.
78Osborne J. P. Widtsoe, Era, Vol. 16, p. 599.
^DHC, Vol. 4, p. 518.
8°Webb, Era, Vol. 17, p. 324.
^DHC, Vol. 2, p. 236.
S2George Q. Cannon, quoted by N. L. Nelson, op. cit., p. 606.
^Sjodahl, op. cit., p. 1103.
«*Osborne J. P. Widtsoe, op. cit., p. 600.
&DHC, Vol. 2, p. 348.
86Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 20, p. 65.
s-'DHC, Vol. 2, p. 236.
&lbid., p. 348.
89Parley P. Pratt, Millennial Star, Vol. 3 (July 1842), p. 46.
^Warsaw Signal, Sept. 19, 1845, p. 2, cited by C. D. McOmber, A Study of
the Criticism of the Book of Abraham (unpublished Master's thesis, Brigham
Young University, Provo, 1960), pp. 17f.
91K. Sethe, Dramatische Texte zu altdgyptischen Mysterienspielen (Leipzig,
1928), Vol. 2, p. 99.
9LThis is discussed below.
93C. W. Ceram, A Picture History of Archaeology (London: Thames &
Hudson, 1959), p. 138.
94A classical instance is found in the introduction to the famous Shabaka
Stone, where the king "orders a copy to be made which should be better than
the earlier [original] one [lit., 'than its earlier condition']." — K. Sethe, op.
cit., Vol. 1, pp. 4, 8, 21f. "Many very ancient books appeared in later
transcriptions throughout Egyptian history," e.g., the Admonitions of Ptah-
Hotep; "if, then, in similar fashion, Abraham also wrote a book, there is no
essential absurdity in the supposition that a copy of it was found in the tomb
of some persons who died even 1,000 or 1,500 years after his day." — R. C. Webb,
Era, Vol. 17, p. 314. Whatever others, such as Wilford Woodruff, may have
thought as to the age of the Facsimiles, Joseph Smith left no clear pronounce-
ment.
February 1968
21
m-u/'i-m-iiw'-iwi-nw- »/*////» -^in//< -./////)— //»//<— //////<■ -/////(].— mz WEMMEMIEEMEMEMEM
Prepared by the
research
department of the
Genealogical
Society
Major Genealogical
Record Sources in
^^- f#/y/ — J////J — j*iiiji — iff jjif — 'ijjy/u — >i/n i/i — tin > i> — /iifiif ^ — fuii/ — if//f/^ — /J/i)/* — t/n/f# — //////fj — ////i//y — /i///f// — mj|//f — iiiiij// — >//iif^^ — iu//7>f — >fi
The chart and table contain
major genealogical record
sources of Sweden. The
major sources are listed,
together with type of rec-
ord, period covered, type
of information given, and
source availability. Table
A shows at a glance the
record sources available for
a research problem in a
particular century. Table
B provides more detailed
information about the ma-
jor records available. For
example, if a pedigree
problem is in the seven-
teenth century, a quick
indication can be obtained
from Table A of the
sources available for that
period. Reference to Table
B will then provide more
complete information.
MAJOR SOURCE AVAILABILITY BY CENTURY
CENTURY
TYPE OF RECORD
15th
16th
17th
18th
19th
20th
1. Emigration Records
2. Lutheran Membership Movements
3. Lutheran Clerical Survey
4. Lutheran Catechistical Records
5. Probate Records
6. Land Records
7. Lutheran Communion Records
8. Census Records
—
9. Tax Lists
10. Court Records
11. Lutheran Parish Registers
12. Trade Guild Records
13. Lutheran Church Accounts
14. Provincial Accounts
15. Military Records
16. House of Nobility
TABLE A
i
s
j
MfM/Ml
^l-iiiiil-iii(/i<--iilf/fi--iffllli\--//fiiii-iji|i/H--ii||i/i-iillli>— tfflti/* — f//f\i/^ — f/f/ft/- — 'f/Ufil— f/fffl/-- Ul/// — uOffi — t/tff«« — *fif///* — f/f//i — //f///i — -///Ay/ — ■///</// —
22
Improvement Era
y* — w/7/i' — mm* — jf/ii// — *iMf/J — /iifi/-> iBiiy — "Miif* — >»iiftf/# — wiii/f — niitf — -jfi///^ — *mj//#. — yiiniif — Mtffii* — «inw» — 'imin — nuin— "UBiu — nini— intlTi111"*^^"
Illustrated by Sherry Thompson
f/i- >//if///~ i///i)i-iip-ii//iiii-/Hii<ii-^)ii-'iniii'--iiii[ii- mm
— iniiHilu- mEM=dMt3Mi IE: life
MAJOR SOURCES CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED
TYPE OF
RECORD
PERIOD
COVERED
TYPE OF INFORMATION GIVEN
AVAILABILITY
1. EMIGRATION
RECORDS
(Emigrations
handlingar)
1876-1913
Larsson Brothers & Company Emigration
Agency: correspondence between the emi-
gration agency and persons inquiring about
emigration; names of correspondents and
their residences in Sweden; sometimes names
of relatives and their residences both in
Sweden and abroad
Provincial archives, Goteborg; on
film (Genealogical Society)
Earliest
from 1869
City Police Records: lists of persons leaving
Sweden through various ports, their names,
places of residence or places of birth, ages
or dates of birth, destination in foreign land,
relationships of persons traveling as a family
unit
City and provincial archives; some
on film (GS)
1851 to
present
Government Emigration Records: names of
persons emigrating, their ages, sometimes
year or date of birth, occupations, places
of residence at time of emigration, country
of destination, relationships
1851-1940 on film (GS) ; 1851 to
present, National Central Bureau
of Statistics, Stockholm
18th C to
19th C
Passport Journals: information varies; name
of person obtaining passport, date when ob-
tained, destination, occupation
On film (GS); city of departure;
provincial archives; Royal War Ar-
chives, Stockholm
2. LUTHERAN
MEMBER-
SHIP
MOVEMENTS
(Flyttnings-
langder)
Certificates of
Moving
(Flyttnings-
attes'ter)
Earliest in
the late
17th C;
more
frequent
1800 to
present
Names of parsons moving in or out of the
parish, places of former and new residence,
marital status, sometimes date and place of
birth
Earliest to 1860 on film (GS); pro-
vincial archives; 1860 to present
in local parish custody
Approx
1750;
more
frequent
1800 to
present
Same as above but sometimes with more de-
tail; information varies
Same as above
3. LUTHERAN
CLERICAL
SURVEY
(Household
Examination
Rolls) _
(Husforhors-
fdngder)
Approx
1686-1895
Names of parishioners, dates of birth or
ages, places of birth, occupations, relation-
ships, marriage data, dates of death, places
of residence, arrivals and removals, legiti-
macy of children, marital status, rating on
religious knowledge; information varies, es-
pecially before 1800; evolved from Lutheran
catechistical records (see no. 4) and super-
seded by the parish records (see item imme-
diately following)
Earliest to approx 1890 on film
(GS) ; earliest to approx 1860, pro-
vincial archives; 1860-1895, local
parish custody
Parish Records
(Forsamlings-
b'dcker)
1896 to
present
Succeeded the clerical survey; the informa-
tion recorded is approximately the same as
the clerical survey
Local parish custody
Abstracts for
each ten-year
period
1860 to
present
Abstracts taken from the above two records
for statistical purposes; information similar
to above but more brief
1860, 1870, 1880, 1890 on film (GS) ;
1860 to present, National Central
Bureau of Statistics, Stockholm
TABLE B
— tf/y»» — //ff/tf — will ii — fif/ 1 p - w/yi— mi/f/r — <t i itu^^inw- — wwhwwi, -*\m -min- m*- - "//ft* -'</m- //flu -///ho-///iih -
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February 1968
23
ARCHIVE ADDRESSES
Landsarkivet in Uppsala com-
prises the Ian of Stockholm,
Uppsala, Sbdermanland, Ore-
bro, Vastmanland and Kop-
parberg. Address : Slottet,
Uppsala.
Landsarkivet in Vadstena
comprises the Ian of Ostergbt-
land, Jbnkbping, Kronoberg
and Kalmar. Address : Slottet,
Vadstena.
Landsarkivet in Visby for
the Ian of Gotland. Address:
Visborgsgatan 1, Visby.
Landsarkivet in Lund com-
prises the Ian of Blekinge,
Kristianstad, Malmohus and
Halland. Address : Dalby-
vagen 4, Lund.
Landsarkivet in Gbteborg
comprises the Ian of Gbteborg
och Bohus, Alvsborg, Skara-
borg and Varmland. Address :
Geijersgatan 1, Gbteborg.
Landsarkivet in Harnbsand
comprises the Ian of Gavle-
borg, Vasternorrland, Vas-
terbotten and Norrbotten.
Address : Nybrogatan 17,
Harnbsand.
Landsarkivet in ostersund
for the Ian of Jamtland. Ad-
dress: Museiplan, Ostersund.
Stadsarkivet in Stockholm for
the city of Stockholm. Ad-
dress : Kungsklippan 61,
Stockholm 8.
Stadsarkivet in Malmb for
the city of Malmb. Address:
Ostergatan 32, Malmb C.
Stadsarkivet in Boras for the
city of Boras. Address : Stads-
huset, Boras. (All church
records in Boras, however,
have been transferred to
Landsarkivet in Gbteborg.)
Stadsarkivet in Vasteras. Ad-
dress: Stadshuset, Vasteras.
(All church records in Vas-
teras, however, have been
transferred to Landsarkivet
in Uppsala.)
Riksarkivet (The National
Archives). Address: Arkiv-
gatan 3, Stockholm.
Kammararkivet (The Carri-
er al Archives). Address:
Birger Jarlstorg 13, Stock-
holm 2.
Kungliga Utrikesdepartemen-
tets arkiv (The Archives of
the Foreign Office). Address:
Gustaf Adolfs torg, Stock-
holm 16.
Riddarhusets arkiv (The Ar-
chives of the House of Nobil-
ity) . Address : Riddarhuset,
Stockholm 2.
Statistiska centralbyrans ar-
kiv (The Archives of the
Central Bureau of Statistics) .
Address : Linnegatan 87,
Stockholm O.
Kungliga Krigsarkivet (The
War Archives). Address:
Banergatan 64, Stockholm 5.
TYPE OF
RECORD
PERIOD
COVERED
TYPE OF INFORMATION GIVEN
AVAILABILITY
4. LUTHERAN
CATECHISTI-
CAL
RECORDS
(Katikismi-
langder)
Approx
1686-1750,
usually
southern
Sweden
only
Names of certain parishioners, occupations,
residences, relationships, marital status,
sometimes ages; superseded by the clerical
survey (see item no. 3)
On film (GS) ; provincial archives
5. PROBATE
RECORDS
(Bouppteck-
ningar
Approx
1660 to
present
Name of deceased, sometimes date of death;
names of heirs, ages, sometimes dates of
birth; residences, guardians, relationships,
real and personal property and its distribu-
tion
Approx 1660-1860 on film (GS) ;
1660 to present, provincial or city
archives, district court archives, cir-
cuit courts of appeal (nobility)
6. LAND
RECORDS
(Jordebocker)
Approx
1630-1750
Names of land owners and tenants, resi-
dences, valuation of land
On film (GS) ; provincial archives;
copy at Cameral Archive (Kammar-
arkivet), Stockholm
7. LUTHERAN
COMMUNION
RECORDS
(Kommunion-
langder)
Earliest
from 1628,
generally
18th-19th C
Names of communicants, residences, rela-
tionships, marital status, occupations, some-
times ages; superseded by clerical survey
(see item no. 3)
On film (GS); provincial archives
8. CENSUS
RECORDS
(Mantals-
I'dngder)
1620 to
present
Name of head of household, residence, some-
times names of wife and children over age
15 and other relatives, especially since ap-
prox 1900; information varies widely, but the
later the census, the more detailed the in-
formation
Earliest to 1750, then each 5 years
to 1860 on film (GS); 1620 to pres-
ent, provincial archives; copy at
Cameral Archives, Stockholm
9. TAX LISTS
(Boskaps-
rdkningar)
1620-1642
Names of landowners and tenants
On film (GS) ; provincial archives;
copy at Cameral Archives, Stock-
holm
10. COURT
RECORDS
(Dombocker)
Approx
1620 to
present
Decisions in criminal trials, transfers of
real estate, marriage settlements, guardian-
ships, mortgages, miscellaneous judiciary
items
1620-1860 on film (GS); earlier
records of the magistrate courts
(Radhusratt) and the assize courts
(Haradsratt) at provincial archives;
copies _at the circuit courts of appeal
(Hovratt) ; more recent records in
local court custody
11. LUTHERAN
PARISH
REGISTERS
(KyrkobbckerJ
Earliest
1607,
generally
1686 to
present
Births: names of persons born and christened,
dates of birth and christening, legitimacy of
children, names of parents, father's occupa-
tion and residence, sometimes age of mother;
names of witnesses at christening and their
residence, occupations, sometimes relation-
ships
Marriages: names of candidates, their places
of residence and date of marriage, sometimes
ages and names of parents or sponsors,
also information regarding former marriages
Deaths: names of deceased, their dates of
death and burial, ages, places of residence
at time of death, occupations, conditions,
causes of death; sometimes biographical in-
formation, particularly in Vastmanland and
Kopparberg Counties
Earliest to approx 1860 on film
(GS); provincial archives; 1860 to
present, local parish custody
NOTE. Transcripts 1860-1947 at
National Central Bureau of Stat-
istics, Stockholm; transcripts 1860-
1892 on film (GS)
12. TRADE
GUILD
RECORDS
(Skrahand-
lingar)
1604-1890
Minutes, names of members and those seek-
ing membership; sometimes proof of age,
parentage, and birthplace
On film (GS); Nordiska Museet,
Stockholm; some in various city
archives
13. LUTHERAN
CHURCH
ACCOUNTS
(Kyrkordken-
skaper)
Earliest
from
16th C,
generally
from middle
of 17th C
to 18th C
Accounts of expenses and contributions;
names and residence of persons who receive
payment for services rendered to the church;
names and residence of persons contributing
monetary gifts at church functions such as
christenings, weddings, and burials; relation-
ships
On film (GS); provincial archives
14. PROVINCIAL
ACCOUNTS
(Landskaps-
handlingar)
1541-1633
Names and residences of landowners and
tenants
On film (GS) ; National Archives
(Riksarkivet), Stockholm
15. MILITARY
RECORDS
(Milit'dra-
handlingar)
1537 to
present
Rotations and inductions: names of military
personnel, residence
General muster rolls: names of personnel of
all ranks, usually province of birth, age,
death or discharge; information varies
Pension and salary lists: names of officers
and non-commissioned officers only; some-
times names of relatives; monetary data
Biographical records: names of officers and
civilian employees only; dates and places
of birth, marriage, and death; parentage;
appointments; information varies
1537-1869 on film (GS); 1537 to
present, Royal War Archives
(Kungliga Krigsarkivet), Stock-
holm; local enrollment offices
NOTE. Refer to the various print-
ed regimental histories and to Lew-
enhaupt's works "The Officers of
King Karl XII" (Karl XII:s
Ojjicerare)
16. HOUSE OF
NOBILITY
(Riddarhuset)
15th C
to present
Names of those introduced and accepted into
the House of Nobility; pedigrees listing their
progenitors to the earliest known ancestor;
names of spouse and children; dates of birth,
marriage, and death; residences, offices and
commissions received; occupations; relation-
ships
Some in print and on film (GS) ;
the Archives of the House of No-
bility [Riddarhusets arkiv), Stock-
holm
NOTE — There are many rural and city parishes that have been given the right to retain their
church books at the parish archives and are exempt by law from the obligation to
deliver their older church books to the provincial archives. These parishes are located
mainly in Kopparberg and Orebro Counties.
24
Improvement Era
Lest We Forget
The Word of Wisdom
By Albert L. Zobell, Jr.
Research Editor
• "This winter [1832-33]/' wrote the Prophet Joseph
Smith, "was spent in translating the Scriptures; in
the School of the Prophets; and sitting in conferences.
I had many glorious seasons of refreshing. The gifts
which follow them that believe and obey the Gos-
pel, as tokens that the Lord is ever the same in His
dealings with the humble lovers and followers of
truth, began to be poured out among us, as in an-
cient days. . . ." (Documentary History of the Church,
Vol. 1, p. 322.)
Then he records simply:
"February 27 [1833].— I received the following rev-
elation: ... A Word of Wisdom, for the benefit of
the . . . church . . . ." (Ibid., page 327.)
Then he records the glorious counsel and prom-
ises found therein.
Speaking to the Saints at Provo, Utah, some 35
years later, February 8, 1868, President Brigham Young
recollected:
"When the school of the prophets was inaugurated
one of the first revelations given by the Lord to His
servant Joseph was the Word of Wisdom. . . . The
prophet began to instruct [the elders] how to live
that they might be the better prepared to perform
the great work they were called to accomplish. I
think I am as well acquainted with the circum-
stances which led to the giving of the Word of Wis-
dom as any man in the Church, although I was not
present at the time to witness them. The first school
of the prophets was held in a small room situated
over the Prophet Joseph's kitchen, in a house which
belonged to Bishop Whitney, and which was at-
tached to his store, which store probably might be
about fifteen feet square. In the rear of this building
was a kitchen, probably ten by fourteen feet, con-
taining rooms and pantries. Over this kitchen was
situated the room in which the Prophet received rev-
elations and in which he instructed his brethren.
The brethren came to that place for hundreds of
miles to attend school in a little room probably no
larger than eleven by fourteen. When they assem-
bled together in this room after breakfast, the first
they did was to light their pipes, and, while smoking,
talk about the great things of the kingdom, and spit
all over the room, and as soon as the pipe was out
of their mouths a large chew of tobacco would
then be taken. Often when the Prophet entered the
room to give the school instructions he would find
himself in a cloud of tobacco smoke. This, and
the complaints of his wife at having to clean so
filthy a floor, made the Prophet think upon the
matter, and he inquired of the Lord relating to the
conduct of the Elders in using tobacco, and the reve-
lation known as the Word of Wisdom was the
result of his inquiry." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 12,
pp. 157-58.)
The Word of Wisdom immediately became part
of the teachings of the Church. The Prophet records
that in 1837 the presidency of the Church at Far
West, Missouri, called a general meeting in which it
was "resolved unanimously, that we will not fellow-
ship any ordained member who will not, or does not,
observe the Word of Wisdom according to its literal
reading." (DHC, Vol. 2, p. 482.) Christmas day 1837
"was the first public conference of the Church in
England, and at this conference the Word of Wis-
dom was first publicly taught in that country."
(DHC, Vol. 2, p. 529.) At the first quarterly conference
at Far West, April 7, 1838, "President Joseph Smith,
Jun., made a few remarks on the Word of Wisdom,
giving the reason of its coming forth, saying it should
be observed." (DHC, Vol. 3, p. 15.)
"It is a piece of good counsel which the Lord de-
sires His people to observe, that they may live on
the earth until the measure of their creation is full,"
said President Brigham Young in 1868. "This is the
object the Lord had in view in giving that Word of
Wisdom. To those who observe it He will give great
wisdom and understanding, increasing their health,
giving strength and endurance to the faculties of
their bodies and minds until they shall be full of
years upon the earth. This will be their blessing if
they will observe His word with a good and willing
heart and in faithfulness before the Lord." (JD,
Vol. 12, p. 156.)
The twentieth century is a marvelous age in which
to live. It is an age in which science has confirmed
much of the Word of Wisdom. We now scientifically
know what the nineteenth century Saints accepted
on faith concerning the great truths of the Word of
Wisdom. The promises of the Lord are the same in
all ages to all peoples. O
February 1968
25
• It was six a.m. when Olataga
Masiasomua reached the mission
home at Pesega, but it was scarce-
ly daylight because of the heavy
clouds. Strong gusts of wind drove
the rain almost horizontally against
her as she ran up the steps. What
a day for a district conference!
What a day to be president of the
mission YWMIA! The trip to
Fagaloa Bay was no picnic in good
weather, and with a storm brewing
she would be lucky to have a hand-
ful of people show up for the con-
ference.
When Ola entered the office of
President Burton H. Price, some of
the MIA board members were al-
ready waiting. After prayer, Presi-
dent Price, his counselor Lauvale
The Hurricane
and Olataga
of Samoa
By Coy
Harmon
Illustrated by
Ed Maryon
Tialavea, and the six MIA people
climbed into the mission pickup
truck. Some of the board mem-
bers had borrowed raincoats from
the elders. Others huddled under
lavalavas, trying to keep out the
wind and the sporadic bursts of
rain.
The road to Fagaloa winds along
the coast for 15 miles or so, then
climbs the mountain and drops
precipitously down to the bay. Un-
til a few years ago the only way
to reach Fagaloa was to take a boat
from Apia or to drive to the top of
the mountain and walk down a
trail. Now a narrow, rocky road
has been built to the first two
villages.
As the truck bumped along the
coastal road, Ola apprehensively
watched the muddy, white-capped
surf lashing the shore. This was
going to be a real storm. Before
they reached the top of the moun-
tain, they passed plantations where
the banana trees were broken off
or knocked down.
They had just rounded the curve
at the top, ready to start the
descent, when the truck jerked to a
stop. The road was blocked by
two large trees. On the other side
of the trees sat two buses whose
disgruntled passengers were wait-
ing to go to Apia. There seemed to
be no way to move the trees until
Ola remembered that in the MIA
supplies was a rope they had
brought for a tug-of-war in the
afternoon activity session. With
the rope, the lead bus was able to
back down the hill and drag the
trees off the road. Then the truck
backed up the hill to let the buses
pass. The whole operation took al-
most two hours.
The truck had just reached Lona
Branch when the storm struck with
increased fury. Before they could
jump from the truck and run into
the fale, the conference visitors
were drenched with rain. During
the afternoon the hurricane intensi-
Improvement Era
Bed until they were only able to
hold one short meeting with the
branch MIA officers who had
gathered.
As the wind rose, breadfruit
trees were uprooted and banana
trees flattened. When the woven
blinds were torn from the fale
where the visitors were staying, the
Saints took the heavy mats from the
floor and nailed them between the
posts to keep out the rain. Some-
how the Saints of the branch were
able to provide food for the visitors
even after the cooking houses were
blown down.
Sleep was impossible. The roar
of the wind and rain was punctu-
ated by the cracking of branches
and the sound of ripping leaves.
At intervals a tree would crash to
the ground, and always in the
background was the ominous
pounding of the surf.
During the night the Saints from
Ma'asina Branch, who had come
for the conference, had to run to
the safety of another fale before
theirs was blown down. In the
fale where Ola stayed, an elder who
had been lying on the floor near
President Price found that a heavy
kava bowl had been hurled by the
wind across the floor to within a
few inches of his head.
When daylight came, President
Price and President Tialavea de-
cided that it would be impossible
to hold conference and that they
would try to get back to Pesega
when the wind calmed down a
little. By noon the storm was be-
ginning to subside, although the
wind still came in sudden hard
gusts, and it was still raining. They
considered leaving the truck there
and walking out, but President Tia-
lavea said he thought he could
drive it out if some of the Saints
would walk ahead to help clear
the road. Six men volunteered.
They had worked their way
about halfway to the top when they
were met by two men who said
February 1968
that it was impossible to get out.
President Tialavea took the truck
back down to Ma'asina Branch and
left it. Then the group began to
climb the mountain. They were
tired, wet, cold, and hungry when
they reached the top. They walked
on toward home and had almost
reached Falefa when they were
picked up by two elders in a
truck.
When they reached Kanana
Branch, Olataga was astonished to
be able to look up and see Sauniatu
at the top of the hill. The trees
that had always obscured it before
had been leveled.
It was beginning to get dark
when Olataga and Oli Manuo be-
gan the four-mile climb to Sauniatu,
where Olataga teaches at the
Church school. Her sodden clothes
clung to her, and her arms and legs
were scratched from climbing over
fallen trees. As she stumbled over
rocks and branches, it seemed she
would never reach the top.
Finally, they were on level
ground and could hear the river.
They were almost home. But at
the bank they met Nofo Ti'i and
three students who were returning
to school after the weekend at
home. The river had risen several
feet over the bridge and it was
impossible to cross it.
Nofo and Oli decided that if they
went upstream to a not-so-rocky
place, they would be able to swim
across. Ola was terrified at the
thought of jumping into the dark,
churning water, but the two men
helped the students across and
came back for her. After much
coaxing and reasoning, they per-
suaded her to swim across between
them. She plunged in.
As the cold, swirling water
sucked her down, she began to
swim for her life. The current was
so strong that several times she
thought she could not possibly
make it across. Then one of the
men would shout to her to swim
and she would struggle harder. At
last she was able to touch bottom,
and they helped her scramble up
the bank. She lay on the grass,
shivering and panting for breath,
grateful to be alive. The wind was
dying. The storm was almost over.
Tomorrow she would have to start
planning for the next conference,
the sports tournaments, and the
youth conferences, and she needed
a new girls' program secretary, but
tonight she was just too tired to
worry about it. . . . O
Coy Harmon, who was in Samoa with
her schoolteacher husband when this
incident took place, is a member of the
Pleasant View (Provo, Utah) Second
Ward.
''Olataga Masiasomua
Where does al)
Turning Financial Folly Into Family Fun (Part 2)
• "Finance is the number one cause
of family arguments" is the con-
clusion of some of those who make
a study of family problems. Open
disagreements over money matters
are not the only bad fruits. Ten-
sions caused from worry about
overdue bills, fretting over where
the next house payment will come
from, anger toward a husband or
wife for a "foolish," unplanned
purchase, and disappointment in
having to see children do without
may result in sharp words and
flaming tempers. Peace cannot
abide in a home where anxiety over
financial matters represses expres-
sions of love and crowds out
laughter.
With our understanding of the
sacred and eternal nature of the
family, it behooves every good
Latter-day Saint to take steps to
reduce discord in the home. If
handling money is a prime source
of disharmony, efforts made to
eliminate the difficulty will result
in a strengthening of the bonds of
love and peace in each home.
A first step in turning financial
folly into family fun is to find out:
Where does it all go?
The best way to do this is to keep
a book in which the family can
record what money is spent. The
total figures for each month will
show what happened to the money.
It is interesting to note that people
with larger incomes and higher
standards of living use budgets
more frequently than those who live
in more modest circumstances.
From almost any variety store,
stationery store, or department
store, one can purchase a "family
expense record" book for as little
as 39 cents, but under any circum-
stances, there is no need to pay
more than a dollar. Get a book
with columns that are labeled,
i.e., housing, food, church, etc., and
then all you do is fill in the blanks.
Also, make sure that one open page
will cover one month.
After the family has recorded
two or three months' outgo, average
up the amount in each category
and use this as the basis for your
budget ( planned expenditures ) .
Let the family counsel together and
determine where they would like
to tighten up so as to provide more
money for a category that yields
more satisfaction.
One family drives secondhand
cars and drinks powdered milk be-
cause putting more into a home
brings greater satisfaction. Another
finds great joy in new cars but
spends a minimum on clothes and
other items.
Don't try to make a budget like
Suggested Allocation of Take-Home Pay1
$5,000 to $7,000
$10,000 to $12,000
1.
Tithing2
12%
12%
2.
Savings
5
7
3.
Food
21
15
4.
5.
Rent or mortgage payments and
household operations ( utilities )
Home furnishings and household
28
29
6.
equipment
Clothing, including laundry
and cleaning
3
7
4
8
7.
Insurance
3
4
8.
Medical and dental care
5
3
9.
10.
Transportation and automobile
Personal allowances, entertain-
7
7
ment, H.O.K.3 and miscellaneous
7
8
11.
Gifts and subscriptions
2
100%
3
100%
1Take-home pay should be gross income less deductions for taxes and Social
Security. It should include any deductions for such items as insurance and
credit union.
210% of gross income normally amounts to approximately 12% of take-home
pay. This amount will vary, however, according to the number of dependents.
3"Heaven-Only-Knows."
28
Improvement Era
By Quinn G. McKay, Ph.D.
Dean, School of Business and Economics, Weber State College
that of the neighbors. Let your
planned expenditures be an expres-
sion of the desires and goals of
your family. Remember: the bud-
get is the expression of the entire
family. Also, if you add to one
category, you must subtract from
another.
For those who would like some
guidelines from which a family
can start planning, here is a starter.
The chart on page 28 is based on an
average family of five or six. It
should be adjusted to meet special
needs of your family and according
to the number of dependents and
amount of deductions. Percentages
are based on take-home pay, so the
family can plan how to allocate
actual amounts of money available.
Therefore, the percentage for tith-
ing may vary, according to differ-
ences between gross pay and
take-home pay.
Just one further note about
budgeting: To spend a whole
evening fretting because you can't
find what happened to 23 cents is
poor budgeting. Put in an "H.O.K."
( "Heaven-Only-Knows" ) account,
because each month money may
seem to disappear just as though
the mice ate it. Allow for this, and
don't fight over it as long as it is
not out of line.
After a budget has been de-
cided upon, a once-a-month family
finance council should be held. The
purpose is twofold:
1. To help the family members
psychologically to see that there are
limits to how much money is avail-
able.
2. To train them to learn that
there are helpful devices for man-
aging money.
3. To help them see that what
they do each day can affect the
amount of money that is available
for other things.
When family members are cog-
nizant of waste and of belongings
that are ill cared for, then the
budget is controlled every day of
the month, not just once a month
at family council night. Thus, a
family budget council is designed
to help members of the household
to be conscious of where the money
is going each day.
Each month sit down at a table
with the family finance book
opened to the previous month's
record. First, select for detailed
review the accounts most out of
line. ( Going into everything in de-
tail would be boring.) Talk about
why these accounts are out of line,
and relate the why to everyday ex-
periences. If the electricity bill is
high, discuss how family members
can be "light switch conscious." If
extra shoes had to be purchased,
discuss the care of shoes and what
water does to leather. If an ap-
pliance had to be repaired or
replaced, explain the value of
maintenance, use, and proper stor-
age of equipment. This can also
be done with care of clothes, furni-
ture, expensive foods, and enter-
tainment. Relating items to specific
dollar amounts helps to build a
consciousness of values and costs.
Second, call attention to ac-
counts in which expenses were less
than budgeted. Here may be a
chance to hand out a bouquet or
two to members of the family. Dur-
ing the month father or mother
should make note of expense-saving
behavior and mention it in family
council.
Third, save until last the special
savings account. That is going to
provide for a piano, color tele-
vision set, vacation, bicycle, mis-
sion, or college. Let each person
see how much closer the acquisi-
tion is. Spend a few minutes
planning for the purchase by look-
ing at catalogues or discussing
the individual preferences of fam-
ily members regarding it. If it is
a vacation fund, spend the winter
months in anticipation. Dreaming,
talking, and finding information
about potential vacation spots can
bring added months of joy for a
10-day trip.
Cautions:
1. Review only what has been
set aside as the family budget.
Mother and father may want to
keep business finances, investments,
and other matters private, espe-
cially if the family is young and
cannot keep confidences.
2. Don't make this a long ses-
sion; particularly, don't dwell too
long on negative aspects and
preachments. Every needed lesson
cannot be taught in one night.
There will be another night next
month.
3. Don't use the family finance
council as a punishment or to
expose or embarrass a spender in
the family. This meeting is for
education, not retribution.
4. Do everything possible in
steps two and three to make it an
February 1968
29
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book, in full color, of Jesus' teachings
contrasted with what Christian Church
leaders teach today.
You have often wanted to show
how Mormons differ — this book
makes the comparison graphically
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tW'xU"
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THIS IS NOT JUST ANOTHER RELIGIOUS BOOK. Christians teach. Beautifully illustrated, plainly told, convincingly
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30 Improvement Era
"Those who save what is left over usually have no savings,
emotionally rewarding experience, cheaper, but you also often con- fit family needs three months from
Do not conduct it in such a way sume more when you think there now. Don't give away your flexi-
that the family comes to dread is plenty. Use self-restraint. bility and monthly control over
finance council night. The family Try things that are less expen- expenditures. Preserve flexibility
can learn that money properly sive, like powdered milk. People's and be free so the family can
handled can bring lots of family tastes adjust. Even mixing three- change its mind next month,
fun and satisfaction. fourths powdered and one-fourth 7. Don't be afraid to buy good
Controlling the budget is a mat- whole milk makes the milk cost used items: furniture, appliances,
ter of attitude— as much psychology about 15 cents a quart, which is a cars. Careful shopping here can
as finance. It is a matter of per- big savings over 28 cents a quart result in significant savings,
sonal self-restraint. for whole milk. Children usually 8. Teach the family to take care
Spending Tips consume as much inexpensive pea- of things. Lessons on care of cloth-
1. Tithing (the Lord's portion) nut butter as they do the expensive ing can be an excellent expenditure
should always be set aside or paid brands. of time and may result in many
the very first. 4. Pay cash. At each purchase, dollars saved. Care of furniture
2. Savings should be put away seeing actual dollars disappear or may require making the living room
next. Payroll deductions for credit the bank account balance diminish off limits for food or jumping,
union or automatic bank savings is a good regular reminder and has 9. Make special savings accounts,
are good. Those who never save a good psychological restraining Save for a color television set or
must invariably borrow. People effect. other special purchase. At the
who save what is left over prac- 5. Don't buy on first visit of monthly family budget review, save
tically never have a savings door-to-door salesmen or at the this account until last. Then let the
account. first store when looking at a major family see together how much
3. In buying food, use a shop- purchase. Educate yourself. Com- nearer they are to that new TV.
ping list and then stick with it. pare prices and features until you This can be the positive side.
This forces planning and also helps satisfy yourself. Learn what to Budgeting need not be all "no"
one to resist impulse buying, look for or what is important in a and tears. Budget for things, not
Merchants devise every means pos- washing machine, or piano, or fur- just against spending.
sible to get shoppers to give in to niture. Take time to analyze and 10. Don't overextend on house
impulses and buy more than they raise questions while not under the buying. Do not buy a house that
really need. smooth talk or charisma of a tal- costs more than two and a half
Shop not more than once a week, ented salesman. His product is times your annual income. Monthly
Try every other week. It can be probably what he says it is, but housing costs (principal, interest,
done. Again, it will force better only you can decide if it is the best insurance, and property taxes)
planning, and you can save money, expenditure of limited funds for should not exceed one-fourth of
Shop the sales. Buy in case lots your family. your monthly take-home pay.
only at sale time. By using and 6. Be reluctant to obligate your- 11. Watch automobile expenses
restocking your year's supply, you selves to long-run purchase schemes closely. It costs more to drive a
can go from one sale to another on and other programs without thor- car than you think,
many items. Planning clothing ough investigation. They may or With wise planning and self-
purchases can also help you take may not provide all the savings restraint, financial folly can be
advantage of sales, thus helping pictures. More important, long-run turned into family fun and con-
make the money go further. Beware schemes lock you into something tribute to harmony in the home
of jumbo sizes. They are often that looks good today but may not rather than disharmony. O
February 1968 31
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32
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Improvement Era
You've been called
a responsible
generation. Born in
the fullness of times,
blessed with the
proverbial bounties
challenged by causes
and conditions
great enough to excite
rour attention, you
hi
ave the role of the
chosen ones. You are
the royalty of the
generations of a'
time. And when much
is given, much is
expected. This is not
a new idea but one that
you'll come to
witness as truth as you
move along your
path as student leader,
athlete, artist,
ebater, home teacher,
or friend of the
^^^^ crowd.
To be part of a
of church, society,
school, or friend. And
it is to choose to do
something about it.
Elder Thomas S. Monson
of the Council of the
Twelve spoke to
thousands of youth
gathered in the
Tabernacle a short time
ago and said: " Young
people, you may choose
your friends, you
may choose your
vocation, you may
choose to honor and
obey God, or you may
responsible generation
is to be "answering."
It is to hear the sound,
the cry, the message
choose to disobey. It
has been given unto
you to choose. Bu
with this great gift
^^^^^ comes a great
responsibility, for with
a choice comes the
responsibility of your
choice."
To you of the
esponsible
eneration
may this issue be a
help in your
preparations
and in your choices.
The Editors
Marion D. Hanks, Editor • Elaine Cannon, Associate Editor
February 1968
33
Lincoln, a
sible
Citizen
He Kept On Growing
By Marion D. Hanks
Illustrated by Dale Kilbourn
• A truly great man was born on the
twelfth day of February, long ago. He lived
his boyhood days in a frontier cabin, and
was denied substantially every blessing that
most boys — even very poor boys — enjoy to-
day. The preparations he made and the
contributions that were his and the oppor-
tunities that came to him were all the result
of an iron determination — and the will of
God.
I am one who is prepared to believe that
Abraham Lincoln was chosen by God and
made ready by him in his own wise way for
a great task that had to be done. I don't
suggest that Abraham Lincoln knew it dur-
ing those days of deprivation, but certainly
there wasn't any mortal wise enough to
suppose that much good could come of a boy
condemned to such a birth under such cir-
cumstances, let alone to suppose that God
was shaping a man to meet a challenge.
The early days of his manhood and matu-
rity didn't look much like it, either. He was
defeated again and again in his efforts to
win political office and in other important
objectives he established for himself. But
he did not quit. He was getting ready.
Know it or not, he was getting ready. I
34
remember the last lines of a great poem
about Lincoln :
"Lincoln was a tall pine.
Lincoln kept on growing."
That he had intimations that there were
things he was to do seems evident. Long
before he matched his steel with the dread-
ful problem of slavery, he said, "When I hit
that thing, I'll hit it hard." And he just kept
on growing.
Lincoln's heart was with right and with
the people. An old man who had listened to
Abe at Gettysburg corrected the usual
elocutionary presentation of his magnifi-
cent address there in one important particu-
lar: "Abe didn't say lof the people, by the
people, for the people,' like they quote it,"
he said. "Abe said, 'of the people, by the
people, for the people' "
The right? It was Lincoln who said :
"I am not bound to win, but I am bound
to be true ; I am not bound to succeed, but I
am bound to live by the light I have."
Think seriously about this man and what
he was and did. We, too, are serving the
right, and our chief concern is people — God's
choice children. Keep serving and loving
and growing. o
Era of Youth
What Is a Girl
Good For?
I
By
Elaine
Cannon
• Woman's role? What is it? the young
woman of today asks.
One hears a lot of talk about what today's
girl is good for. One sees the word in print.
But opinions vary greatly.
Girls are counseled to marry and have
families — to fulfill the measure of their
creation. But if they do, they are charged
with adding to the problem of the popula-
tion explosion. They are taught the same
subjects as boys in school and trained to
compete with them in the world of com-
merce. On the other hand, they are
reminded that their place is in the home.
What is the truth? The dichotomy can be
■
One thing of which an LDS girl is certain
is that her role in the Church and in life will
always be different from that of a boy. She
has not been given the priesthood. God's
power is not used through her exactly as it
is in men. But a girl does have a power. Hers
is the power to bear children, yes, but also
to love, and with heart and hand to com-
fort, teach, and train, to heal and care for
both old and young, man, woman, and child
alike, wherever her service may take her.
Growing up with an attitude toward
service, maturing in the sweet spirit of
waiting upon others, giving of one's self
as only a woman can, will mark a girl's life
happily. Her theme song might be:
"Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad,
And made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.
"Has anyone's burden been lighter today,
Because I was willing to share?
February 1968
Have the sick and the weary
Been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there?"
Among the many wonderful ways a young
girl can grow into her role of woman is to
do volunteer work as a candy striper in a
hospital. Two such teens are Latter-day
Saints Marti Sonntag and Kathy Thorpe,
caught in action by photographer Eldon
Linschoten.
February 1968
Responsiveness
to A\«in
&
&
By Paulette
Flandro
«» ~:'f
VO
<>
/ remember mud squishing between my toes,
and the incredible softness of newborn puppies.
I heard brook music when we went fishing, and
ran to the melody of mother's call. I tasted honey
on my fingers, and smelled apple blossoms in our
tree. I cried when I was afraid or hurt, and I
laughed when I was happy to be alive. Telling
stories at the bedside of my brothers made me feel
grown up. But in my heart I knew I wasn't.
Somewhere as a child I learned to love. Love
is the key to being properly responsive to life, to
our fellowmen. Love begins when I ask my grown-
up friend, "How are you?" and he answers me
honestly. When he is happy, we run and laugh
together. When he is depressed, I listen as he
pours out his heart. I share his tears, as he would
mine. I go to my friend, for there is love.
Love is giving what I need to get. Love is re-
sponsiveness to man.
Love begins when I realize that we are all
children of God and respond to this sublime idea.
I step into my parents' shoes and weaken when I
see the challenges of rearing a family and creating
a home where love is king. Then I understand
how heartbreaking life would be without love,
or love without eternal life. I must be a responsive
child and listen to their wise counsel, for they are
wise in the ways of love, and they are responsive
to the counsel of Heavenly Father.
Erich Fromm said, "Duty is an obligation, but
responsibility is a response to something." I like
to think responsibility is a response to love.
If I am to be a responsible member of this
generation, I must, then, be responsive to all
mankind. To truly do this, I must educate both
my mind and heart, for what is knowledge with-
out love? It is an empty barrel of facts without
meaning. Without love, Toynbee said, "Man is a
god of technology but an ape at life."
We are aiming to become good at life. Christ's
Church is based on love. "We believe in being
treasured, high-principled honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in
doing good to all men." The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints was established to
help us prepare ourselves to truly love our broth-
ers, to love God, and to serve him. Only thus can
we earn our way back into his eternal presence.
• / looked around me at my world — my world
of unrelated textbooks and lectures, my world of
philosophical discussions, my world of prayer
with the council of the Latter-day Saint Student
Association, my world of refusing European
moral standards while studying abroad, my world
of the promise of eternal progression, my world
of blindly insensitive people, and especially my
world of dear and
friends.
With all of these diverse influences, what sense
have I made of the world? What is my relation-
ship to the scheme of things? What is my
responsibility ?
38
Era of Youth
Responsiveness to God By steve iba
continues on page 42
• That grand old prophet Elijah was blessed with
power from heaven to curse the earth with famine
and to call fire down to consume the offering
before the prophets of Baal. Then Elijah left
the land and lay down under a juniper tree and
slept. An angel of the Lord came to him and
said: "Arise and eat; because the journey is too
great for thee."
During the journey Elijah hid himself in a cave.
The voice of the Lord said unto him : "What doest
thou here, Elijah? ... Go forth, and stand upon
the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the
Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent
the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks
before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the
wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but
the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the
earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in
the fire; and after the fire a still small voice,"
(1 Kings 19:7, 9-12.)
And so it was with Elijah. He was a man like
unto ourselves. At times we all slumber under
our juniper trees. "We walk in darkness at
noonday," and are very insensitive toward life,
toward all that moves and lives around us.
But what do we hear from the Lord ? "Awake
and arouse your faculties." Have you observed
how a child is awake and responsive to his father
and mother? We are the offspring of God, our
Father, and "cometh from afar."
"Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east
Must travel, still is Nature's Priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended ;
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day."
(William Wordsworth,
"Intimations of Immortality.")
February 1968
Must that responsiveness toward God fade into
the light of common day ? The light from Father
fades because we hide in caves. We build up walls
around ourselves. Can we be responsive to God if
we're false, artificial, ungenuine with men? "Man
is spirit. . . ." That's our real selves. Only
through a spirit-to-spirit communication and re-
lationship can we be known and come to know
one another. Too many times we allow only the
scabbard to be seen, and never unsheath the knife.
"What doest thou here?" Can you hear that
voice when you're sleeping under your juniper tree
or hiding in your cave? "Go forth and stand upon
the mount." Hear the voice of the Lord speak
to you, spirit to spirit, Father to son. Remember,
he's not in the wind, earthquake, or fire, but in the
still small voice within you.
"Sometimes during solitude I hear truth spoken
with clarity and freshness; uncolored and un-
translated it speaks from within myself in a lan-
guage original but inarticulate, heard only with
the soul, and I realize I brought it with me, was
never taught it, nor can I efficiently teach it to
another." (President Hugh B. Brown.)
It's a personal response to know what the Father
wants us to do. As we respond, he responds, and
then we become responsible to what we hear and
feel. The words of Johann Schiller, which
Beethoven put to music in his Ninth Symphony,
are meaningful:
"Millions, myriads, rise and gather!
Share this universal kiss!
Brothers, in a heaven of bliss ;
Smiles the world's all loving Father.
Do the millions, his creation, know him
And His works of love?
Seek Him ! In the heights above,
In His starry habitation."
Do we seek him and know him, the world's all-
loving Father? I wonder. O
39
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New Light on
Joseph Smith's
Egyptian
Rapyrl
Additional
Fragment
Disclosed
40
Because of the unprecedented inter-
est generated throughout the Church
by the recovery of 1 1 pieces of papyrus
that were once the property of the
Prophet Joseph Smith, The Improve-
ment Era is reproducing here in color
all of the known papyri now in the
possession of the Church. There are
12 pieces in all; 11 of these are included
in the recent find (see January Era)
and one has been in the Church His-
torian's Office over the years. The 12
pieces of papyrus have now been num-
bered and labeled by Dr. Hugh Nibley,
who has been assigned by the Church
to direct the investigation and research
being done on the material. (See the
second in his series of articles, "A New
Look at the Pearl of Great Price,"
page 14.)
Fragment 1 is the section of the
papyrus manuscript from which the
Prophet Joseph Smith obtained Fac-
simile No. 1, which is reproduced in
the Book of Abraham.
Fragments 2, 3A and 3B are un-
classified, illustrated fragments.
Fragments 4-9 — these include the
one from the Church Historian's Of-
fice— are from the Book of the Dead.
/. Facsimile No. 1
Such books, which were written to
assist in the safe passage of the dead
persons into the spirit world, were
commonly buried with Egyptian mum-
mies. The writings on the recently
recovered fragments show that all of
these Book of the Dead papyri belonged
to the lady Taimin Mutninesikhonsu.
Thus, we probably now know the name
of the female mummy that was in
Joseph Smith's possession and on whose
person it was reported the papyrus was
originally found.
Fragments 10 and 11 are unclassi-
fied, unillustrated hieratic texts. (Hier-
atic text is a cursive, shorthand version
of hieroglyphics.)
Fragment 4 is called the "Framed
Trinity Papyrus" because this particu-
lar fragment had an old frame on it
when it was found in the Metropoli-
tan Museum of Art in New York. It is
thought that the fragment may have
been framed and displayed during the
Prophet Joseph Smith's time. It is
labeled "Trinity" because such figures
as those shown in the upper left-
hand illustration are interpreted by
Egyptologists as representing the
Trinity. D.L.G.
!')•<
tm9 mm
■t a.
Background of the Church Historian's Fragment
By Jay M. Todd
Editorial Associate
• As to the background of the Church
Historian's fragment, this is most
puzzling. Two members of the his-
torian's office, A. William Lund and
Earl E. Olson, assistant Church his-
torians, do not recall any information
surrounding the fragment — only that
it has been there throughout their
service. Brother Lund has been assistant
Church historian since 1911, and has
worked since September 1908 in the
historian's office. They believe that
the fragment has been a part of the
manuscript of the Egyptian Alphabet
and Grammar prepared by Joseph
Smith preparatory to the translation of
the Book of Abraham and that it ap-
parently has always been in the
Church's hands. A perusal of the files
of the Church Historian's Office dis-
closes these two items:
(1) Wednesday, October 17, 1855.
". . . The following books and papers
were taken from this office today and
deposited in the fire proof vault of the
new Historian's Office, namely on the
2nd shelf from the bottom: History
Books, A., B.l, B.2 . . Egyptian Alpha-
bet; . . . three plates of the Book of
Abraham; red box with papers, blanks,
journal, sterotype [sic] plates." Thus,
if the Church Historian's fragment has
always been with the Egyptian Alpha-
//. Plowing scene
bet and Grammar, perhaps this entry
helps to date and place the papyrus
fragment in its long journey from
Nauvoo to Utah.
(2) However, the most interesting —
and most puzzling — entry is found
under date of Saturday, July 11, 1846.
(As early as 1938, Dr. Sidney B. Sperry
of Brigham Young University, the
"father" of much of our modern Pearl
of Great Price research, mentioned in
part this intriguing entry in Ancient
Records Testify in Papyrus and Stone,
an MIA course of study.) "At seven
a.m. President Brigham Young and the
brethren with him went into council in
Powsheeks' tent, which was on the east
side of the creek.
"Powsheek asked, where they would
winter and where they would cross the
Missouri. It was reported that some-
body had stolen from the 'Mormons.'
Powsheek said if he found anything,
he would return it. . . .
"Powsheek spoke of Joseph Smith,
the prophet, who had been murdered
and with whom he had been ac-
quainted; said, the prophet was a great
and good man.
"As the Presidency passed out of the
tent, Banquejappa, a Pottawatomie
[sic] Chief, called us aside, and pre-
sented a paper counseling the Indians
not to sell their lands, given them by
Jon. Dunham, and two sheets of
hieroglyphics, from the Book of Abra-
ham. President B. Young started at
ten minutes after eight, rode till
twenty-two minutes after ten, when
they stopped at the west branch of
the Nodaway, with Ezra Chase; they
resumed their journev at half past
eleven and arrived at Pottawatomie
Indian village forty five minutes after
one p.m.
"A Pottawatomie captain presented
two sheets of the Book of Abraham;
also a letter from their 'Father' Joseph
Smith, dated 1843, and a map of their
land by W. W. Phelps "
The location of these meetings was
in western Iowa, where the Saints were
establishing themselves at Council
Bluffs, Mount Pisgah, and other camps
in preparation for the winter of 1846,
previous to the general exodus to the
Rocky Mountains a year later. The
West Nodaway River generally ranges
45-55 miles east and southeast of
present-day Omaha, Nebraska. From
Church history, it appears that Brig-
ham Young was moving westward to-
ward Council Bluffs at the time.
This startling entry presents many
questions: 1) Were two different
presentations being made of the Book
of Abraham material, or is the second
reference supposed to be an amplifica-
tion of the first reference?
2) Are there two presentations, one
involving actual papyrus fragments,
the other involving a presentation of
printed sheets from the Book of Abra-
ham printed in the Times and Seasons,
\
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February 1968
2J ■ 3 i . ^P 6 7
40-A
1U
ll!
|
\£l
It
h
it
_{
i
i -■ Y
~*-MA. Court of
Osiris (on throne)
which the second In-
dian captain had ac-
quired somehow and
presented as a ges-
ture of friendship to
Brigham Young?
3) Do both presen-
tations involve news-
paper clippings?
4) Since Baque-
jappa was acquainted
with the Prophet,
did the Prophet, in a
gesture of affection
to the Indian chief,
give him some pieces
of papyrus that from
his study the Prophet
knew were not im-
portant to the Book
of Abraham? (As
noted above, Dr.
Hugh Nibley asserts
that the Church His-
torian's fragment is
from the Book of the
Dead.)
5) If these were
actual papyri frag-
ments being returned,
were they part of
that which was "re-
ported that somebody
had stolen from the
'Mormons' "?
6) Did some In-
dians, while visiting
with Joseph Smith,
steal some papers
and papyrus from
him, his office, or
Church buildings?
Why did the Baque-
jappa call the men
"aside" — a feeling of
guilt?
Since the Indians
had a letter from the
Prophet, and appar-
ently were acquaint-
ed with him, the
setting is such that it
is certainly possible
that the Indians
could have acquired
through some means
some actual papyrus
ragments.
7) But perhaps the
biggest unanswered
question is: If the
presentation actually
did involve two
papyrus fragments, is
the newly named
Church Historian's
ragment one of
those fragments?
And if so, where is
/// B. Court of Osiris
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IV. Framed ("Trinity") papyrus
the other fragment? Numerous
questions come to mind.
But the story is not yet fin-
ished. To add strength to the
possibility that the Pota-
watami Indians actually
could have obtained some
manuscripts, perhaps even as
a gift from the Prophet Joseph
Smith, the following entries
from the Documentary His-
tory of the Church are pre-
sented: 1) Under date of
Saturday, June 24, 1843: "Sev-
eral of the Pottawatomie [sic]
Indians called to see the
Nauvoo House and Temple.
They wanted to talk, hut their
interpreter could not speak
much." According to Dr. T.
Edgar Lyon, well-known
Church historian associated
with Nauvoo Restoration,
Inc., Nauvoo was a prominent
spot for Indians and was
called by them Quashquema.
Indian burial grounds
abounded in the area. The
Potawatami Indians were
there, being ever pressed
westward by settlers since
their expulsion from the area
around Lake Michigan in
1833. A famous American
Indian war, the Black Hawk
War, was also waged in this
vicinity. At any event, when
these Indians arrived, the
Prophet Joseph was not in
town. He had been forcefully
taken the day before by two
sheriffs from Missouri, who
transported him under false
arrest to Dixon, Lee County,
Illinois, some 140 miles north-
east of Nauvoo. He was re-
leased several days later under
a writ of habeas corpus.
2) Under date of Sunday,
July 2, 1843: "I had an inter-
view with several Pottawat-
tamie [sic] chiefs, who came
to see me during my ab-
sence." Following this state-
ment, the Prophet had
included "Interview with Pot-
tawattamie Chiefs. (From
Wilford Woodruff's Jour-
nal.)," which contains the
following: "The Indian chiefs
remained at Nauvoo until the
Prophet returned and had his
trial. During their stay they
had a talk with Hyrum Smith
in the basement of the Nau-
voo House. . . . They were not
free to talk, and did not wish
to communicate their feelings
until they could see the great
Prophet. At length, on the 2nd
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V77. Man with sta/f
(entering into glory)
day of July, 1843, President
Joseph Smith and several of
the Twelve met those chiefs
in the court-room, with about
twenty of the elders. The fol-
lowing is a synopsis of the
conversation which took place
as given by the interpreter:
The Indian orator arose and
asked the Prophet if the men
who were present were all his
friends. Answer — yes.
"He then said — 'We as a
people have long been dis-
tressed and oppressed. We
have been driven from our
lands many times. . . . We
have talked with the Great
Spirit, and the Great Spirit
has talked with us. We have
asked the Great Spirit to save
us and let us live; and the
Great Spirit has told us that
he had raised up a great
Prophet, chief and friend, who
would do us great good and
tell us what to do; and the
Great Spirit has told us that
you are the man (pointing to
the Prophet Joseph). We have
now come a great way to see
you, and hear your words,
and to have you to tell us
what to do. Our horses have
become poor traveling, and
we are hungry. We will now
wait and hear your word.'
The Spirit of God rested upon
the Lamanites, especially the
orator. Joseph was much
affected and shed tears. He
arose and said unto them: 'I
have heard your words. They are true. The
Great Spirit has told you the truth. I am
your friend and brother, and I wish to do
you good. . . .
The Great Spirit has given me a book,
and told me that you will soon be blessed
again. The Great Spirit will soon begin to
talk with you and your children. This is the
book which your fathers made. I wrote upon
it | showing them the Book of Mormon |.
This tells you what you will have to do. i
now want you to begin to pray to the Great
Spirit. I want you to make peace with one
another, and do not kill any more Indians;
it is not good. Do not kill white men; it is
not good; but ask the Great Spirit for what
you want, and it will not be long before the
Great Spirit will bless you, and you will
cultivate the earth and build good houses
like white men. We will give you something
to eat and to take home with you.'
"When the prophet's words were inter-
preted to the chiefs, they all said it was
good. . . .
"At the close of the interview, Joseph had
an ox killed for them, and — ►
they were furnished with VIII.
some more horses. . . ." (Ital- Inverted
ics added.) triangle
40-F
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In addition to this brief
information, which certainly
portrays a picture of emo-
tion and deep respect between
the Potawatami Indians and
the Prophet Joseph Smith, the
date of the event is most im-
portant. It is July 1843, more
than a year after the Book of
Abraham had first been print-
ed in Times and Seasons in
1842. By now the Prophet
knew which pieces of papyrus
were important, in terms of
religious scripture, and which
were not.
During the Indians' stay,
and in a gesture of lasting
friendship, the Prophet may
have given them either pages
from Times and Seasons,
which featured Book of Abra-
ham facsimiles, or perhaps
some actual papyrus frag-
ments, or both. Thus, in addi-
tion to food and horses, the
Prophet may have wished to
give the Indians a personal
token, something of value or
of antiquity to demonstrate
his affection and bond with
them. At any event, it seems
apparent that whatever it was
that the Indians gave to Brig-
ham Young in 1846 was that
which they had obtained
during their 1843 Nauvoo
visit with the Prophet Joseph
Smith. It is certainly a most
intriguing puzzle. — ►
•to.
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February 1968
40-G
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With our readers, the staff anticipation to additional de-
of The Improvement Era will velopments in this fascinating
be looking forward with eager story, and to the unfolding of
the meaning of the hiero-
IX. Church Historian's fragment
\
z&i&Jihfa
glyphics and illustrations on
these valuable manuscripts as
they are given by Dr. Nibley
in his articles. O
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X. Hieratic text, the "Sensen" papyrus, labeled "first one"' (unillustratcd)
XI. Small "Sensen" text (unillustrated)
*f
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illlll
continued from page 39
Keep
the
• •
• In our exacting lives, we are either growing
spiritually or we are losing ground. We either
feed the spirit or it withers and dies. There is no
neutral course. If we have not grown spiritually'
during the Sabbath day, of what value has it been
to us? We may have obtained much-needed
physical relaxation, but we would be foolish in-
deed to overlook the fact that the finest care of
the physical self is no substitute for the neglect
of the soul.
Theodore Roosevelt was once asked by a soldier
if he could not worship God while in the moun-
tains as well as in church on Sunday. Roosevelt
promptly replied, "You could, but you don't." It
is true that Moses found God on a mountain, and
Joseph Smith found him in a grove of trees, but,
as has been pointed out, neither of them had a
golf club or was carrying a fishing pole in his hand
at the time.
William E. Berrett writes, "It takes proper
environment to induce deep thinking and deep
feeling. It requires the harmony of soul that is
accomplished in prayer or song. It needs the
assuring presence of others reaching for the same
things in order to quicken the spirit within us. It
requires the spirit of God to reach out and kindle
the flame of our own spirit. Jesus said, 'Where
two or three are gathered together in my name,
there I will be in the midst of them.' "
You may remember the story of the two min-
isters who were mulling over some of the time-
worn excuses for not attending church. They de-
cided to apply these excuses for not attending
church to something people like to do, such as
going to the movies. They came up with this
list:
1. I don't attend the movies because the man-
ager of the theater has never visited me.
2. I did go a few times, but no one spoke to me.
Those who go there aren't very friendly.
3. Every time I go they ask me for money.
4. Not all folks who go to the movies live up
to the high standards of the film.
5. I went to the movies so much as a child I've
decided I have had all the entertainment I need.
6. The performance lasts too long; I can't sit
still for an hour and a half.
42
Day
Holy
By Steve
Sorensen
(Freshman
at Yale
University ;
from Capitol
Hill Ward,
Salt Lake
Stake)
7. I don't always agree with what I hear and
see there.
8. I don't think they have very good music.
9. The shows are held in the evening, and that's
the only time I have to be home with family.
We can see how ridiculous these excuses seem
when they are used in this manner. In June 1959
Presidents David 0. McKay, J. Reuben Clark, Jr.,
and Henry D. Moyle of the First Presidency issued
the following in a statement concerning the
Sabbath :
"The Sabbath is not just another day on which
we merely rest from work, free to spend it as our
light-mindedness may suggest. It is a holy day,
the Lord's day, to be spent as a day of worship
and reverence. All matters extraneous thereto
should be shunned.
"This is a Holy Day of the Lord, on which we
are commanded to pour out our souls in gratitude
for the many blessings of health, strength, physi-
cal comfort, and spiritual joy which come from
the Lord's bounteous hand."
President McKay has further commented on
our conduct when we do come to Church on Sun-
day. He states: "When you enter a church build-
ing, you are coming into the presence of our
Father in heaven; and that thought should be
sufficient incentive for you to prepare your hearts,
your minds, and even your attire, that you might
appropriately and properly sit in his pres-
ence. . . ."
In conclusion, William E. Berrett suggests five
questions to ask ourselves each Sabbath day :
1. Have I this day learned one new spiritual
truth?
2. Have I come one whit closer to understand-
ing and loving my f ellowman ?
3. Have I resolved anew to become in my words
and actions more like Jesus Christ?
4. Have I renewed my solemn covenants with
God?
5. Have I kept my mind unhampered by
thoughts of violence, financial schemes, petty
jealousies, or sordid desires?
If we can answer "yes" to all of these, we may
be sure that we have indeed kept the Sabbath
day holy. q
Era of Youth
Youth speaks
to someone important —
Elder Marion G. Romney of the
Council of the Twelve — about the
Sustaining Power
of the
Holy Ghos
Q. Elder Romney, in seminary we are
considering the question of the sustaining
power of the Holy Ghost. What happens
when we receive the witness of the Holy
Ghost?
One who receives the witness of the Holy
Ghost has a sure knowledge that God lives;
that he is our Father in heaven; that Jesus
Christ is our Elder Brother in the spirit
and the Only Begotten of the Father in the
flesh, our Savior and Redeemer. Such a one
knows that the universal order in the heav-
ens above, in the earth beneath, and in the
waters under the earth, all give evidence
that God lives; he knows that the testimonies
of the prophets concerning the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost are accurate and true.
Secure in this knowledge, his life has
purpose. The gospel of Jesus Christ becomes
for him what Paul said it is: "The power of
God unto salvation." (Rom. 1:16.)
February 1968
■ *»» *M
mV ^Jntf
Enthusiasm and the ability to make
new- and additional opportunities are
qualities that prompted the MIA general
board to create 30 more honor badges
after Esther Oeknick had completed the
required Beehive honor badges. Esther
is chorister of the MIA in the German
Speaking Ward in Salt Lake City.
A jazz-singing Mormon girl is win-
ning a name for herself in the collegiate
jazz festivals of America. She is Brig-
ham Young University undergraduate
Cheryln Olson. She took second place
in one international collegiate event in
Florida and looks forward to bigger
stakes this year. She has made a major
recording release and has appeared on
several TV shows.
with the
We talked with members of the
Centerville (Utah) Fourth Ward of Davis
Stake, and they were charmed indeed
by the two-day charm school for all
MIA girls and their mothers. A per-
sonal invitation in the form of a dress
pattern brought enthusiastic crowds to
hear about hair styling, manners,
grooming, and social graces, and to
see a fashion show culminating in a
wedding party. The bride was Linda
Duncan, who paused on the runway in
her own wedding gown and spoke of
the beauty of a temple marriage. Other
speakers included Noma Kjar, Barbara
Sylvester, Margaret Farmer, Loretta
Tolman, lla Devereaux, Frankie Free-
man, and Joan Roybal.
Era of Youth
Denver is a stop-off point for many nomination for President of the United
travelers, and when George Romney, a
Latter-day Saint who is seeking the
Editors
States, and Sister Romney made such a
stop, there were some excited youth on
hand to greet them. Most excited was
Randy Dunbar, who enjoyed a special
birthday treat in being guest at break-
fast with the celebrities.
Next time you thumb through your
Seventeen magazine or watch a young
adult cosmetic commercial on TV, keep
your eyes open for an active LDS girl
named Laurie Gunter from Queens
(New York) Ward, Long Island Stake,
who is a professional model. Laurie
is an honor roll student and yell leader
at high school and the girls' athletic
director for her ward.
February 1968
46
Era of Youth
Scene with
"Talent undeveloped is talent lost,"
someone said, but there won't be much
of that happening in Wards like Salt
Lake City's Highland View 2nd! Put to-
gether interested leaders like Bishop
Jean McDonough and counselors, tal-
ented directors and designers like Pat
Davis, Donna Warner, and Cliff Davis,
a musical like Annie Get Your Gun, and
NINETY-FIVE CHOICE YOUNG PEOPLE
willing to rehearse at 6 A.M. daily for
three months, and you have a really
great experience that blessed partici-
pants, viewers, and the missionary
fund.
the Editors
Milling around the BYU campus, one
meets friends from all over the world
where Church service has called. Saw
new professor Joseph Wood (former
bishop, now an MIA general board
member) greeting newcomers Paul
Larsen and Jean Ahlstrom from Idaho
and Chris Lo Presti from California.
February 1968
47
U/U 4& (pvd^MA^no more timely topic than FREEDOM —
what iris and how to get it. The scriptures have something
to say about the subject. You'll profit from reading and
applying them.
"Then said Jesus to those
Jews which believed on him, If
ye continue in my word, then
are ye my disciples indeed;
"And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you
free." (John 8:30-32.)
"They answered him, We be
Abraham's seed, and were never
in bondage to any man: how
sayest thou, Ye shall be made
free?
"Jesus answered them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Whoso-
ever committeth sin is the ser-
vant of sin.
"And the servant abideth not
in the house for ever: but the
Son abideth ever.
"If the Son therefore shall
make you free, ye shall be free
indeed."
(John 8:30-36.)
"I, the Lord God, make you
free, therefore ye are free in-
deed; and the law also maketh
you free."
(D&C 98:8.)
"And the Messiah cometh in
the fulness of time, that he may
redeem the children of men
from the fall. And because that
they are redeemed from the fall
they have become free forever,
knowing good and evil ; to act for
themselves and not to be acted
upon, save it be by the punish-
ment of the law at the great and
last day, according to the com-
mandments which God hath
given.
"Wherefore, men are free ac-
cording to the flesh; and all
things are given them which are
expedient unto man. And they
are free to choose liberty and
eternal life, through the great
mediation of all men, or to
choose captivity and death, ac-
cording to the captivity and
power of the devil ; for he seek-
eth that all men might be
miserable like unto himself.
"And now, my sons, I would
that ye should look to the great
Mediator, and hearken unto his
great commandments ; and be
faithful unto his words, and
choose eternal life, according to
the will of his Holy Spirit ;
"And not choose eternal death,
according to the will of the flesh
and the evil which is therein,
which giveth the spirit of the
devil power to captivate, to bring
you down to hell, that he may
reign over you in his own king-
dom."
(2 Ne. 2:26-29.)
"But whoso looketh into the
perfect law of liberty, and con-
tinueth therein, he being not a
forgetful hearer, but a doer of
the work, this man shall be
blessed in his deed."
(Jas. 1:25.)
". . . where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is liberty."
(2 Cor. 3:17.)
"Abide ye in the liberty
wherewith ye are made free;
entangle not yourselves in sin,
but let your hands be clean, un-
til the Lord comes."
(D&C 88:86.)
"And I will walk at liberty:
for I seek thy precepts."
(Ps. 119:45.)
48
Era of Youth
The Presiding Bishop
Talks to Youth About
RESPECT
• During the Savior's earthly min-
istry, as he associated with the lep-
ers, the maimed, the wise, or as
he knelt in solemn prayer before
his Father, one senses that he pos-
sessed a profound respect for
others. Even during the trial,
when those he loved betrayed him,
and those he came to serve
mocked and cursed him, not once
did he speak with disrespect. Even
when the mobs cried; ''Crucify
him! Crucify him!" and he was
taken to Golgotha to suffer the
most excruciating pains, his
thoughts, were for the welfare of
his mother, for those he loved,
and even for those who drove nails
into his hands, and a disdainful
word never parted his lips.
Young men and women, it is
this great characteristic of respect
that I would like to consider with
you. This is a virtue that is often
difficult for young people to fully
appreciate; yet it is a characteristic
of maturity, dignity, and greatness.
While respect is a virtue that has
application in each phase of our
lives, may I discuss with you its
application in some areas that seem
of particular importance in our
day.
Respect for Parents
From the time of Adam, to
Sinai, to our day, the responsi-
bility of youth to respect their
parents has been with us. Great
men have always respected their
parents. As Christ, our Master,
the greatest of all, hung bleeding
on the cross, he thought of his
mother's welfare. Abraham Lin-
coln, one of the greatest of Amer-
icans, said on one occasion, "All
that I am or ever hope to be I
owe to my angel mother." Respect
for parents is basic to true man-
hood or true womanhood.
An account is given of an
English boy who was once sent to
watch his father's field. On no ac-
count was he to let anyone go
through it. The boy had scarcely
taken his post when some hunts-
men came up and ordered him to
open the gate. He declined to do
so, telling them that he meant to
obey his father's instructions. At
last one of them came up and
said in a commanding voice, "My
boy, you do not know me, but I
am the Duke of Wellington. I am
not accustomed to being diso-
beyed. I command you to open
this gate."
The boy lifted his cap and an-
swered firmly, "I am sure that the
Duke of Wellington would not
wish me to obey his order. I
must keep the gate shut. No one
can pass through but by my fa-
ther's express permission."
Then the Duke took off his own
hat and said, "I honor the man or
boy who can neither be frightened
nor bribed into disobeying orders.
With an army of such soldiers I
could conquer not only the
French but the world."
Obedience to parents is the
most sublime form of respect. It
is often the so-called little things
that convey respect. It is well,
young men and women, that you
realize how much of what you are
and what you have, you owe to
your parents. There are no people
in your life more deserving of your
respect.
We often hear some young peo-
ple comment that they wish that
they were given more respect,
and this plea is not without cause.
Yet a basic rule of human rela-
tions is that "respect begets re-
spect." You will find that you will
gain respect from your parents
and others as you honor and re-
spect them.
Recently an incident was told
by a man whose form is now bent
By Bishop John H. Vandenberg
and whose hair is white with years.
When he was in his youth, he was
returning one evening from the
hay fields on his father's farm.
He had been working since day-
break, when his father met him
with a request that he go to town
to do an errand. The elderly man
said:
"I was tired, dirty, and hungry.
It was two miles to town. I wanted
to get my supper. My first impulse
was to refuse, and to do it harshly,
for I was angry that my father
should ask me to go after my long
day's work. But I knew that if I did
refuse, he would go himself. 'Of
course, Father, I'll go,' I said heart-
ily, giving my scythe to one of the
men. 'Thank you, Jim,' my father
replied. 'I was going myself, but
somehow I don't feel very strong
today.'
"He walked with me to the
road that turned off to the town,
and as he left me he put his hand
on my arm and said again, 'Thank
you, my son; you've always been
a good boy to me, Jim.
"I hurried into town and back
again. When I came near the
house, I saw that something un-
usual had happened. All the farm-
hands were gathered about the
door instead of doing the chores.
When I came nearer, one of the
men turned to me with tears roll-
ing down his face. 'Your father,'
he said, 'is dead. He fell just as he
reached the house. His last words
he spoke of you.'
"I am an old man now, but I
thanked God over and over again
in all the years that have passed
since that hour for those last
words of my father-'You've always
been a good boy to me.' "
Having respect for your parents
is the first step toward nobility.
Respect for Others
Respect is an attitude that often
finds expression in what is called
"common courtesy." It is a tragedy
of our time to find that "common
February 1968
49
courtesy" isn't as common as
might be so. This form of respect
and consideration is so essential
and so basic. "All doors are open
to courtesy," said Thomas Fuller.
And as Tennyson observed: "The
greater man the greater courtesy."
Courtesy is a form of respect that
is a necessary part of a true man
or a true woman. It reflects self-
confidence and self-esteem. Speak-
ing in this regard, E. S. Martin said,
"Self-respect is at the bottom of
all good manners. They are the
expression of discipline, of good-
will, of respect for other people's
rights, and comfort and feelings."
It is well, young people, that we
examine ourselves and see that in
all our actions we are courteous
and considerate— with that respect
which comes from within.
"Nothing," said Cicero, "is more
becoming a great man than cour-
tesy."
Respect for Law
Respect for law and civil author-
ity is a basic tenet of our beliefs.
The Prophet Joseph Smith stated
that "we believe in being subject
to kings, presidents, rulers, and
magistrates, in obeying, honoring,
and sustaining the law." This is
an area that is being mocked and
ridiculed by some in our society
today. In the United States a mur-
der occurs every 48 minutes, a
forcible rape every 21 minutes, a
robbery every 31/2 minutes, an auto
theft every 57 seconds, a grand
larceny every 35 seconds, and a
burglary every 23 seconds.
A rather startling and tragic note
is that 48 percent of the arrests
for serious crimes in the United
States are of youths under 18
years of age.
President McKay, in comment-
ing on this disrespect for law and
authority, quoted one of our U. S.
senators. He said, "America has
been afflicted over the past three
or four years by an epidemic of
acts of so-called civil disobedi-
ence. Municipal ordinances and
state statutes have been wilfully
and intentionally disobeyed by
individuals and groups. Private
property has been subject to de-
liberate trespass. Mobs have taken
to the streets, interfering with
commerce, creating public disor-
der, and breaching the peace.
Civil disobedience has at times
been advocated from some of the
pulpits throughout the land and
encouraged, upon occasions, by
ill-advised statements of public
officials. Mobs have frequently
been so large that the police were
helpless to make arrests. These
acts of so-called disobedience
have been proclaimed by impor-
tant political personages to be in
the finest American tradition. It
was said to be good Christian doc-
trine to disregard man-made laws
which conflicted with one's own
conscience, and, of course, by
implication, those who enforced
man-made laws were likewise to
be disregarded. This is indeed a
strange and false doctrine. . . ."
It is in direct opposition to the dec-
laration of the Prophet Joseph
Smith, who stated that "to the
laws all men owe respect and
deference. . . ." (D&C 134:6.)
This sets forth a challenge to
you young men and women of
the Church to hold forth a light of
respect in the midst of this dis-
dain for the laws and statutes
that have made this land great.
Respect for Divine
Authority
The Apostle Paul had to be
taught respect for authority before
he was called to the ministry. The
Book of Acts tells of Saul's venge-
ful trip toward Damascus, which
was interrupted when the voice of
the Lord cried out to Saul: "Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me?"
And Saul said, "Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do? And the
Lord said unto him, Arise, and go
into the city, and it shall be told
thee what thou must do." (Acts
9:4, 6.)
Now, the Lord could have told
Saul in a few words what he was
to do, but the Lord understood
Saul's nature, and he knew that
Saul would find difficulty in rec-
ognizing and respecting the au-
thority of the Church leaders, as
later instances proved. So in an
effort to impress upon Saul the
vital importance of respecting the
authority of the Church, the Lord
sent the learned Saul to Ananias,
the humble presiding officer of the
Church in Damascus, the very
man whom Saul was going to ar-
rest, for instructions regarding the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
Respect for authority is basic in
our doctrine. The Lord, in the
Doctrine and Covenants, empha-
sized this point when he declared:
"What I the Lord have spoken,
I have spoken, and I excuse not
myself; and though the heavens
and the earth pass away, my word
shall not pass away, but shall all
be fulfilled, whether my mine own
voice or by the voice of my serv-
ants, it is the same." (D&C 1:38.)
There is a great blessing for you
young men of the Aaronic Priest-
hood and you young ladies, if
you'll grasp the implications of
this statement of the Lord. Look
to the Prophet, to your stake
president, and to your bishop;
respect their authority and follow
their counsel.
Respect, as we have said, is
basic. Far too frequently in our
present-day society, young people,
insecure in their false maturity,
turn to disrespect, thinking it will
shore-up their own self-image.
Little do they realize that in so
doing, they are "betraying their
own right to excellence."
May we conclude by paraphas-
ing a statement made by President
McKay: "Little men may succeed,
but without [respect] they can
never be great."
50
Improvement Era
The Era Asks
About Genealogy
in the
Church Today
Genealogy has been a widely discussed and much-practiced art
throughout the Church the past several years, and is the subject of the
following intervieiv. The participants are: Elder Theodore M. Burton,
Assistant to the Council of the Twelve, vice president and general man-
ager of the Genealogical Society; Paid F. Royall, general secretary of
the Genealogical Society; David E. Gardner, analyst in genealogy,
Genealogical Society; Ernest C. Jeppsen, dean of the College of Indus-
trial and Technical Education, Brigham Young University; Norman E.
Wright, chairman, genealogical research technology, BYU; V. Ben Blox-
ham, instructor in genealogical research, BYU.
Q — Which of the many changes Second, one of the finest steps
made within the past few years in forward has been to simplify our
genealogy have influenced the procedures. Our book of instruc-
work most? tions used to be nearly two inches
Elder Burton — It's a thrilling thing thick, but we have cut it to one-
to be on the threshold of great fourth that size and hope to
progress, and the Church and the simplify it even further.
Genealogical Society have taken Third, a small, highly trained
some great strides forward, of core of specialists is providing re-
which I can think of nearly a dozen, search papers on various language
First, I think that providing free and genealogical problems for the
access to all our genealogical li- benefit of all the Saints who will
brary facilities has done more than read their research papers. This is
any other single thing to give a fantastic service!
impetus to research. Formerly, one Fourth, the Priesthood Gene-
had to sign up and then wait to alogical Committee members per-
obtain books or archive records; formed a wonderful mission as they
now the books are on open shelves went throughout the Church en-
on a help-yourself basis. couraging genealogical endeavors.
Fifth, the program of putting
genealogy into the hands of the
priesthood, with the stake presi-
dents and bishops in charge, has
been of immense value.
Sixth, the laboratory programs
that were designed to help the
Saints get the feel of genealogical
work have caught fire and enlisted
a remarkable portion of the Church
membership. These include the
MIA "genealogy in action" classes,
the three-generation program, con-
Elder T. M. Burton ponders question.
February 1968
51
sisting of seven family group sheets,
and the fourth-generation program,
consisting of eight family group
sheets. With these programs we
have tried to lift people out of
classroom situations into laboratory
situations where they actually work
on genealogy. You see, in genealogy
one learns faster by doing than by
listening.
There are other steps that have
contributed to the great rise in
interest in genealogy, but these are
some of the important ones of the
past few years.
Q — Are the three- and fourth-gen-
eration programs to be continued?
Elder Burton — Yes, because this is
an extremely efficient training
program for new converts coming
into the Church and for our Saints
who reactivate themselves in the
Church or in genealogy. Also,
many new families come into the
Church through the marriages of
our own youth. Thus, there will
always be a need for a training
program in genealogy.
Q — Do Latter-day Saints supply
sufficient names for temple work?
Elder Burton — No, we couldn't
Paul Royall notes stature of Gene-
alogical Society to Jay M. Todd.
keep the temples operating at top
capacity if we relied solely on the
present rate of research by Latter-
day Saints. Because of this situa-
tion, we had to create the records
tabulation program, or the extract-
ing of names and data from copies
of parish registers for temple
work. But we hope to develop a
program whereby the Saints can
supply sufficient names to keep the
temples operating. Perhaps the
time will come when the program
of providing names for temple
work can be centered on the stake
level. However, as we build more
and more temples, perhaps we will
see the day when no matter how
many names the Saints supply, we
will still need names from parish
records.
Q — How do you feel about the
state of involvement of the Saints
in genealogy?
Elder Burton — During the past six
years we noticed a decrease of ac-
tivity, but that trend has been
arrested, and we are starting to
climb again. Many reasons ac-
counted for the decrease, including
the speed of present-day life, but a
new and significant interest in
genealogy is manifesting itself, and
we are most thrilled with it. Also,
the accuracy and the quality of
research work done by the Saints
are improving. A sense of respon-
sibility for doing better work is
manifesting itself very much — and
that is a marvelous thing when you
think of it.
Q — Will the day ever come when
the Saints will be able to check
records out of the genealogical
libraries and take them home for
study?
Elder Burton — Not in the near fu-
ture. Under the present arrange-
ment, all records must stay in the
buildings. But we are expanding
branch libraries as fast as we can.
At present we have 61 branch li-
braries and supply so many micro-
filmed copies of records to all our
libraries that we have three large
duplicating machines running over-
time. The Church is the largest
individual consumer of microfilm in
the world— not counting the U.S.
government as a whole, although
we do consume more microfilm
than any single government agency.
Q — The program of microfilming
original records throughout the
world has been well publicized,
but is it possible for the data on
the records to be indexed so the
Saints could quickly identify in-
formation found therein?
Elder Burton — We are presently
experimenting with several stakes
in an indexing program of this type.
For example, the Springville
(Utah) Stake is indexing the rec-
ords from Iceland. They compile
the census records and index them
alphabetically. Some of the stakes
in the Pacific are doing the same
thing with Polynesian records. If
these experiments prove fruitful,
we will ask more stakes to
cooperate.
It is amazing what modern tech-
nology and facilities can do for us.
For instance, 20 years ago, if one
was interested in Danish research,
he would probably go to Denmark,
face language difficulties, trans-
portation difficulties, problems in
locating records, and the problem
of spending sufficient time with
the records to make his trip suc-
cessful, and then be confronted
with the problem of trying to read
a foreign language in a script that
might be archaic. Today, however,
with modern methods of micro-
filming, the records of Denmark
and many other lands are brought
to our genealogical libraries, and
volunteer workers are translating
the foreign archaic script into Eng-
lish. In a few days of constant
52
Improvement Era
research, one can now find informa-
tion that previously would have
taken years of research.
Q — What is the stature of the
Church and its Genealogical So-
ciety among professional orga-
nizations?
Royal I — It is becoming a common
occurrence to hear professionals
speak of the Church's Genealogical
Society as the largest and best-
equipped in the world. And our
rather sudden rise to this stature
within a 10- to 20-year period is
remarkable. We receive many
letters requesting the society to
send its specialists to various pro-
fessional genealogical organizations
on speaking assignments. Often,
we have been able to oblige them
if one of our people has had a stake
conference assigment nearby. The
stature and opening of doors that
have come from this kind of fellow-
ship have been truly inspiring.
Q — What has been the response
to the research papers that you
have published through the Era?
(See page 22 of this issue.)
Elder Burton — There has been a
tremendous upsurge of interest by
our own members, and we have a
large file of complimentary letters
from other professional genealogi-
cal organizations, which often as
not offer to trade or exchange
some of their records for copies of
ours. This is an excellent way to
increase our library at minimal cost.
By the way, it is often necessary to
buy collections of records, so we
welcome contributions!
Q — With the acquisition of rec-
ords from around the world, how
have you coped with the in-
creased need for qualified re-
searchers to assist Saints in
genealogical research problems?
Elder Burton — This answer in-
cludes another of the significant
steps forward. Instead of the
Genealogical Society providing
trained researchers for the Saints,
it was decided that we would
begin a system of accrediting re-
searchers. Anyone with the neces-
sary training and knowledge could
take an examination to determine
his competency. We have over
one hundred such accredited re-
searchers. Thus, those who have
particular genealogical research
needs can hire accredited research-
ers for difficult problems. In this
we have been helped considerably
by Brigham Young University and
Richard L Evans
The Spoken Word
At times we may feel the pressure of people. But when we feel
crowded or impatient with people, we may well think how empty
and dreary, how lonely and poor and purposeless life would be
without those who live with us and around us. "If a wise man were
granted a life of abundance of everything material, so that he had leisure
to contemplate everything worth knowing," said Cicero, "still if he could
not communicate with another human being he would abandon life."1
In many places, we could still spread out and live hermit-like and see
less of others, if we wanted to, but we come together for convenience,
for skills and services, for education, for cultural enrichment. We owe
a debt to others for food prepared, for medicines and those who admin-
ister them, for shelter and conveniences, and for services and safety;
but more than this— for a broadening of life, for company and companion-
ship, for just being there, for relieving us of sheer loneliness. And since
this is so, among life's foremost lessons is to learn to get along, and to
see and consider what other people really mean to us. There can be
too many. Life can become cluttered. People can be too impersonal.
But there could also be too few, with poverty of ideas and emptiness of
life. And with too few, we soon would sense not only our dependence
on others, but the blessing of knowing there is someone there and the
debt we owe each other for the mere fact of human feeling. At home,
and worldwide, we need more of appreciation and less of fault-finding,
that the warmth and goodwill of the Prince of Peace, the Master of man-
kind, may move more among us, with more awareness of what we owe
to others. Despite all misunderstandings, despite all problems and
impatience, we owe something to all the people there are, for the en-
richment and variety of life, for the simple privilege of association. For
this, and for much more, we owe each other kindness and care and con-
sideration. "No man is an island,"2 wrote John Donne. There is no
one who doesn't need others, whether he knows it or not.
MDicero, quoted in The Royal Bank of Canada Monthly Letter, "Communication Is Vital," Vol. 48,
No. 10.
2John Donne, Seventh Century Meditation, No. 17.
* "The Spoken Word" from Temple Square, presented over KSL and the Columbia
Broadcasting System December 3, 1967. Copyright 1967.
February 1968
53
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its staff of experts in genealogy.
Wright — Since we started our two-
year genealogical course program
at BYU six years ago, we have
graduated 51 students in the pro-
gram, from which 14 of these stu-
dents have applied and successfully
passed the accreditation examina-
tion. Some of the graduates are
doing professional genealogy work
full time, others part-time.
Q — How many universities offer
credit or a degree in this type of
research?
Jeppsen — There is no university in
the U.S., including BYU, that gives
a bachelor's degree in genealogical
research. We do give an associate
degree, however, which is a two-
year degree for technicians. We are
studying the possibility of a bache-
lor's degree in genealogical re-
search and library science. Student
interest in genealogical classes at
BYU has been very high. A few
other schools, such as American
University in Washington, D.C., do
give credit classes in genealogical
research. At one time at least one
university in Germany offered a
degree in genealogical research.
Bloxham — Both the University of
V. Ben Bloxham and David E. Gardner
add research know-how to interview.
Improvement Era
Arizona at Tucson and the
California State Department of
Continuing Education teach gene-
alogical research.
Gardner — Several universities in
England provide course work in
related fields, particularly the Uni-
versity of London and the Uni-
versity of Kent. The latter school
is building a full-degree program
in the area of history, genealogy,
and family history.
Elder Burton — In line with what
other universities are doing, I think
Latter-day Saints can take pride in
what BYU is doing to assist the
Saints and the Church through its
genealogical course work. But
what should be of widespread in-
terest to all genealogically minded
Latter-day Saints is our priesthood
genealogy seminar held annually at
BYU.
Q — Who is invited to attend this
seminar?
Elder Burton — Anyone who is in-
terested in genealogy and the
priesthood aspects of it.
Gardner — This certainly would in-
clude those who hold ward and
stake positions that deal with gene-
alogy: stake presidents, high coun-
cilors, bishops, high priest group
leaders, quorum presidencies, ward
record examiners, instructors,
branch librarians. About 800
people attended last year's seminar.
Q — What is the schedule for the
next seminar?
Elder Burton — Beginning Monday,
August 12, through Friday, August
16, on the BYU campus, we will
intently study aspects of genealogy.
Each day a General Authority will
speak.
Throughout the week we will
study such things as how to
obtain ■ genealogical information
from the Genealogical Society,
how to use the Pedigree Referral
Service, how to get information
from the Temple Records Index
Bureau, how to get information
from archives, how to use gene-
alogical branch libraries. We will
be studying beginning and ad-
vanced research methods and pro-
cedures, and how to solve problems
in genealogy. There will be tech-
nical courses on research problems
in the U.S., Canada, Latin Amer-
ica, and various European countries.
We will also discuss priesthood
genealogy in the future and where
■■■Hi
Ernest C. Jeppsen and Norman E. Wright of Brigham Young University's
genealogical program discuss the BYU's contributions to genealogy.
February 1968
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today's knowledge and technology
are taking us.
Bloxham — For example, we are
going to have actual documents
placed on transparencies, and we
will show how to use passenger
lists of arrivals, Indian census
records, federal census records, mil-
itary documents. The latest
research by professional organiza-
tions throughout the world will be
explained. From the standpoint of
one interested in genealogy, the
kind of training that will be of-
fered by the Genealogical Society
and BYU's leading genealogical ex-
perts and by our General Authori-
ties who will speak on priesthood
genealogy will be all encompass-
ing. This really is a remarkable
opportunity.
Wright — All interested persons
should correspond with Special
Courses and Conferences at Brig-
ham Young University, Provo,
Utah, at their earliest convenience.
Registration fee is $10 for the
week. There will be three instruc-
tional periods of one and one-half
hours each, held between 8:30 a.m.
and 4:30 p.m. Housing may be ob-
tained on or off campus. On
campus, board and room will cost
Improvement Era
between $3 and $5 per day for a
man and wife.
Jeppsen — For those who may be
interested, numerous families who
attended last year did so as part
of their family vacation, because
on our campus we feature swim-
ming, bowling, hobby shops, danc-
ing, golf, tennis, movies, dramas,
and student musicals. Nearby are
the canyons and Utah Lake for hik-
ing, fishing, camping, and boating.
It is a marvelous way to introduce
one's family to BYU, and Salt Lake
City and Church headquarters are
less than an hour away. In terms of
cost, last year most couples spent
between $35 and $50 total for board
and room while at the seminar.
Housing is available with cooking
facilities both for couples and for
those wishing to bring their
children.
Elder Burton — In closing, I would
like to note that some amazing and
inspiring things have been done
or set in motion the past few years,
but the future looks even brighter.
We live in a time that provides us
with countless opportunities to per-
form the temple ordinances for
our beloved and worthy progeni-
tors. It is a thrilling age! O
Elder Theodore M. Burton reviews
progress of the Genealogical Society,
and also discusses upcoming Priest-
hood-Genealogy Seminar to be held in
August at Brig ham Young University.
February 1968
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57
• "Life is not kicking me about—
it is shoving me around, then sit-
ting on me so hard that I feel
smothered." These words came
over the phone to a friendly ear.
The caller went on to say that she
had six children all under seven
years of age, that she lived a life
of confusion and frustration, and
that she was ready to "start climb-
ing the walls." The house was
never in order, the children never
quiet, and there was never time in
the day to do all there was to be
done. Then in a longing voice, she
added, "I'm not a person in my own
right any more. I've been smashed
into a million pieces, and I haven't
even time to stop and pick up the
fragments. I've come to the end of
me.
There was an unuttered cry for
help in those words. Such thoughts
are duplicated in hundreds of
homes by hundreds of young
mothers. Is there an easy remedy?
Life for a young mother with a
number of children is not simple,
but it can be exciting. It can be a
happy time, and it can be a most
rewarding adventure. One must
always remember, when day -by-
day struggling seems insurmount-
able, to repeat the thought, "This
too will pass." All too soon the
years go by, and the sons are six
feet tall and wage-earning fathers;
and the daughters, now mothers
themselves, are in their cycle of
rearing little children. Life is a
circle one travels, and the wheel
never stops. It is difficult to choose
the years that are the most enjoy-
able, but when a vote is taken in
later life, the child-rearing years
usually win the count.
There are many ways to turn the
drudgery of these years into joy.
One way is to remember that each
little one is a child of God, an in-
dividual loaned to you to be taught
and loved and enjoyed. When this
baby is put into your arms, you can
almost hear the words: "This child
is yours to mold and guide; there
is nothing more important in this
life." You now have the privilege
of helping to build a worthwhile
human being. No work in the world
pays like "mother work."
If you find yourself frustrated,
put first things first. Try not to be
a perfectionist as a housekeeper.
Realize that the children come be-
fore the household duties and be-
fore any interests outside the home.
Learn to organize your life hap-
pily. Don't jam any one day too
full; leave time for the unexpected.
Any schedule should have plenty of
leeway. In this budgeting of time,
consider yourself. Plan for a few
minutes in each day to go into your
own room and close the door.
Occasionally have a babysitter
come in while you put on fresh lip-
stick and walk into the outside
World for a few hours.
There is a home on almost every
block where children like to gather.
It is a place where the mother
loves children. She takes time for
each question; she listens as each
little voice speaks. She believes that
woman is that she might have joy.
There is a feeling of optimism in
her every motion, glance, and word.
Though others may moan when
they see one cloud in the sky, she
is thankful for a patch of blue.
Perhaps this house is not too clean,
but the children feel only the love.
However, if the home is more than
cluttered, that is not good. There
can be a balance.
A husband and children deserve
a basically clean home. Frustra-
tion comes to some people because
confusion and clutter upset some-
thing within them. They get
bogged down in the "now." In such
cases the housekeeping should be
scheduled. Perhaps an hour first
thing in the morning might be
taken to tidy up the whole house;
58
Improvement Era
then one or two hours each day
could be spent to clean one room
thoroughly. By the end of the week,
the house will be cleaned, and each
day will find a neat home and a
serene mother. Include in this
schedule a plan for mother and the
children to spend a few minutes
picking up the clutter again just
before father comes home in the
evening.
Children can be happy doing
housework if mother is cheerful
and makes a game of it. A two-
year-old is able to pick up toys if
this is consistently expected of him.
A five-year-old can dust, empty
wastepaper baskets, and do other
chores. An eight- or ten-year-old
child is capable of helping the
younger children bathe and get to
bed in the evening. Ironing, dish-
washing, bedmaking, vacuuming,
and many other household tasks
can be done by children with
mother supervising and making it
fun. Try to sing or whistle while
you work; the job gets done more
quickly that way.
A mother should be consistent in
her attitude toward the children
helping in the home. Each day,
with few exceptions, every little
person should do his chores. A
mother needs a steady, not a heavy,
hand in guiding the children with
their work. Rewards are not taboo
but blackmail is. If the children
do a certain assignment well, there
could be a treat, but try not to
threaten the boy or girl if a task
is not done satisfactorily. Without
cross words, have the child do the
work over again. A mother's con-
sistency gives strength to her
words.
Too many interests outside the
home can make a woman confused
and unhappy. It is not wise to
accept everything that is asked of
one. Good judgment should be
used. A young mother needs out-
side interests but she does not need
to carry added pressures to the det-
riment of her own family. Many a
young mother, in welcoming a di-
version, will accept a number of
responsibilities in civic, church, and
social organizations, which may not
leave her enough time for her fam-
ily's demands. Only frustration
can follow. Every woman should
use wisdom. A husband and chil-
dren should always come first in
any plans.
A person may feel guilty because
she has spoken crossly, or because
the house is not in perfect order,
or because she took a nap, or be-
cause she shows a lack of consis-
tency. But a mother must not live
a life of guilt. Just do the best at
the moment, then stand relaxed.
Don't waste time and energy on
past shortcomings; try harder and
then relax more.
Confusion at breakfast and at
the dinner hour is frustrating to
everyone. Planning ahead can
rectify this. Work out menus and
shop for the needs of seven break-
fasts at one time; then do some-
thing before going to bed at night
to lighten the preparation of
breakfast the next morning. This
planning will help insure the
needed foods for the morning
meal. There is nothing more frus-
trating than trying to fix breakfast
without eggs or milk. It is also
foolish for a tired mother to plan
a dinner for her family with a great
deal of last-minute preparation. A
meal can be delicious and nourish-
ing and yet simple. Plan dinners
that can be prepared earlier in the
day with a minimum of last-minute
doing. Oven meals fit into this
category. Try some of the follow-
ing suggestions; then at dinner
time sit contentedly and relaxed
and enjoy your family.
EASY DOES IT
The most relaxing of all meals
to prepare is the oven dinner. Most
of the preparation can be done
early in the day and the prepared
dish can be chilled in the refriger-
ator. Then, with the help of the
oven, only 30 to 60 minutes is
needed to present the family with
a hot, nourishing, delicious meal.
Ovens through the ages have pro-
duced fragrant meats and breads,
but nothing can compare to a
modern oven. It can do all but the
initial preparation of the food. A
finger touches a button, and a cold
oven turns itself on at a designated
time to a set temperature. Human
beings can be miles away but still
dinner can start to cook and be
ready when the family assembles
around the dinner table. It's magic!
This miracle can help a busy
mother to be cheerful, calm, and
serene throughout the dinner hour.
Cheese and Meat Casserole
(8 servings)
y2 pound noodles
iy2 pounds lean ground beef
2 small cans tomato sauce
V2 cup chili sauce
1 8-ounce carton small curd cottage
cheese
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
Vi cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Y3 cup minced green onions
Early in the day, cook the noodles as
directed on the package; drain. Saute
the ground beef and stir in the tomato
sauce and the chili sauce. Remove from
heat. Combine cottage cheese, cream
cheese, evaporated milk, lemon juice,
onions. In a 2-quart casserole spread
half the noodles; cover with the cheese
mixture; then add the rest of the
noodles. Pour the tomato-meat sauce
over all. Bake in a 350° F. oven until
heated through.
Lima Bean Casserole
(6 to 8 servings)
2 packages frozen lima beans
1 can condensed mushroom soup
Milk
Cook the lima beans in unsalted water
until just tender; drain. Stir in the soup.
Thin slightly with milk if desired. Put
into a casserole. Garnish with buttered
cracker crumbs and bake in a 350° F.
oven until bubbly and brown on top.
Hungry Boy Casserole
(8 servings)
1 package (8 ounces) shell macaroni
2 pounds ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
iy2 teaspoons salt
Vs teaspoon pepper -►
February 1968
59
1 can (8 ounces) whole kernel corn,
drained
2 cans condensed tomato soup
y2 cup chopped ripe olives
Cook the macaroni according to direc-
tions on package and drain. Brown the
meat; add the onion and green pepper,
cover the skillet, and simmer until they
are softened. Combine this mixture
with the salt, pepper, macaroni, corn,
tomato soup, and ripe olives. Place in a
2V2-qijart casserole, top with buttered
cornflakes, and bake in a 350° F. oven
for 30 minutes.
Veal Loaf
(6 to 8 servings)
IV,
V2
Vz
Vz
2
2
1
1
Va
pounds ground veal
pound ground pork
cup coarse bread crumbs
cup evaporated milk
eggs, slightly beaten
tablespoons lemon juice
teaspoon salt
teaspoon celery salt
teaspoon pepper
slices bacon
Combine all ingredients except bacon,
and pack into a greased 9x5 loaf pan.
Dice the bacon and place on top of loaf.
Store in refrigerator. Bake at 350° F.
for about iy2 hours.
Beef Italian
(6 servings)
iy2 pounds round steak, boneless
1 egg, beaten
y3 cup Parmesan cheese
y3 cup fine bread crumbs
Cooking oil
Dash of pepper
Dash of oregano
Vi cup chopped onion
\y2 teaspoons sugar
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
2 cups hot water
V2 pound cheese, sliced
Pound the steak very thin; cut into 6
servings. Dip the meat into the beaten
egg, then roll in mixture of Parmesan
cheese and crumbs. Brown steak, sea-
soned with pepper and oregano, in oil
over medium heat. Place in shallow
pan. Cook onion in the oil until soft but
not brown; stir in the other ingredients
except the cheese. Gradually add the
hot water, stirring. Pour most of the
sauce over the meat; top with cheese
slices and remaining sauce. Bake at
350° F. for 1 hour.
Oven Stew
(Serves 6 to 8)
2 pounds beef, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 onions, sliced
4 carrots, sliced y^-'mch thick
1 turnip, sliced
1 cup thinly sliced cabbage
1 cup diced celery
3 sprigs parsley
Salt to taste
y2 teaspoon peppercorns
1 bay leaf
5 cloves
2 cups water
1 large can tomatoes
3 tablespoons flour
1 package frozen peas
Toss the beef in seasoned flour and
brown in 2 tablespoons hot oil. Add all
the other ingredients with the exception
of the flour and peas. Place in a baking
dish. Cover, and bake at 250° F. for 3
hours or until the meat and vegetables
are tender. Ten minutes before serving,
stir in the flour and peas.
Country Ham Casserole
(Serves 6-8)
6 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
2 cups diced cooked ham
5 tablespoons melted butter
7 tablespoons flour
4 cups milk
3 tablespoons chopped onion
3 tablespoons chopped green pepper
3 tablespoons chopped celery
Salt and pepper to taste
y2 teaspoon mustard
Arrange the eggs and ham in layers in
a greased casserole. In a skillet or
saucepan blend the flour in the butter
and gradually stir in the milk. Cook,
stirring until thickened. Add the other
ingredients and pour over the ham and
eggs. Sprinkle with bread crumbs mixed
with grated cheese. Chill until about 45
minutes before serving. Heat in 350°
F. oven until browned and bubbly.
Family Tuna Casserole
(Serves 6)
3 cups cooked rice
1 can cream of mushroom soup
% cup evaporated milk
V2 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon grated onion
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup chopped celery
1 small can pimiento, chopped
2 cans tuna
1 cup grated cheese
Combine all the ingredients. Pour into
a buttered casserole. Sprinkle with
crushed potato chips. Chill until 45
minutes before serving. Bake in a 375°
F. oven.
Chicken and Rice Casserole
(Serves 6)
1 cup uncooked rice
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup diced celery
V£ cup diced green pepper
2y2 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups cooked chicken
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon lemon juice
y2 package frozen peas
1 cup crushed potato chips
Fry the rice in the butter until it is
golden brown. Add the celery, green
pepper, y2 cup chicken broth, and sea-
son to taste. Cook until all moisture is
gone. Thicken 2 cups chicken broth
with cornstarch. Add the diced chicken
and lemon juice, and season to taste.
Put alternate layers of rice, chicken,
and peas in a buttered casserole. End
with the chicken mixture. Top with
crushed potato chips. Chill until just
before dinner. Bake in a 350° F. oven
for 30 to 45 minutes.
Home, Sweet Home
Snacks have the ability to
do many things. They can:
Help pass the time away.
Enliven a twosome.
Encourage a tot.
Expand a waist.
Ruin a figure.
Stimulate an appetite.
Create a mood.
Be a reward.
Smother a desire.
Kill a resolution.
Add joy to a moment.
Warm a heart.
Entertain a group.
Make an event special.
An inexpensive, low-calorie snack for
a family evening is always welcome.
Next week try serving these corn crisps
and hot tomato juice.
Grace's Corn Crisps
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup yellow cornmeal
y2 teaspoon salt
onion salt
Parmesan cheese
Bring the water and butter to a boil;
add cornmeal and salt all at once, stir-
ring rapidly. Remove from heat and
stir until dough forms a ball. Divide it
into 2 parts. Place each ball on a well-
buttered cookie sheet and smooth out
with fingers until the pan is covered.
The dough will be very thin, but keep
patting it until the sheet is covered.
Bake in a 375° F. oven until the edges
curl and the corn crisp is a golden
brown. Sprinkle with onion salt and
Parmesan cheese. When cool, remove
the corn crisps from the pans in large
pieces. Gently place in an attractive
dish or basket. Nibble and enjoy. This
snack is good served as an accom-
paniment to soup, fruit cocktail, fish
cocktail, or punch. O
60
Improvement Era
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Address
State (BE SUflE TO INCLUDE YOUR ZIP CODE)
February 1968
61
Dr. Charles H. Townes' work
on the laser won him the 1964 Nobel Prize.
He is presently provost and professor
of physics at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
The
Convergence of
Science and
Religion
By Charles H. Townes
The ever-increasing success of
science has posed many chal-
lenges and conflicts for religion —
conflicts that are resolved in individual
lives in a variety of ways. Some accept
both religion and science as dealing
with quite different methods, and thus
separate them so widely in their think-
ing that no direct confrontation is pos-
sible. Some repair rather completely
to the camp of science or of religion
and regard the other as of little impor-
tance, if not downright harmful.
To me science and religion are both
universal and basically very similar. In
fact, to make the argument clear, I
should like to adopt the rather extreme
point of view that their differences are
largely superficial, and that the two
become almost indistinguishable if we
look at the real nature of each. It is
perhaps science whose real nature is
the less obvious, because of its blind-
ing superficial successes. To explain
this, and to give perspective to the non-
scientists, we must consider a bit of
the history and development of science.
The march of science during the 19th
century produced enormous confidence
in its success and generality. One
field after another fell before the ob-
jective inquiry, experimental approach,
and logic of science. Scientific laws
appeared to take on an absolute quality,
and it was very easy to be convinced
From Think, March-April 1966. Used with permission.
that science in time would explain
everything.
This was the time when Laplace
could believe that if he knew the posi-
tion and velocity of every particle in
the universe and could calculate suffi-
ciently well, he would then know the
entire future. Laplace was simply
expressing the evident experience of
the time, that the success and precision
of scientific laws had changed deter-
minism from a speculative argument
to one that seemed inescapable.
This was the time when the devout
Pasteur, asked how he as a scientist
could be religious, simply replied that
his laboratory was one realm, and that
his home and religion were a com-
pletely different one.
There are today many vestiges of this
19th century scientific absolutism in
our thinking and attitudes. It has given
Communism, based on Marx's 19th
century background, some of its sense
of the inexorable course of history and
of "scientific" planning of society.
Toward the end of the 19th century,
many physical scientists viewed their
work as almost complete and needing
only some extension and more detailed
refinement. But soon after, deep
problems began to appear. The world
seems relatively unaware of how deep
these problems really were and of the
extent to which some of the most
fundamental scientific ideas have
been overturned by them. Perhaps
this unawareness is because science
has been vigorous in changing itself
and continuing to press and has also
diverted attention by ever more suc-
cesses in solving the practical problems
of life.
Many of the philosophical and con-
ceptional bases of science have, in
fact, been disturbed and revolution-
ized. The poignancy of these changes
can be grasped only through sampling
them. For example, the question
whether light consists of small particles
shot out by light sources or by wave
disturbances originated by them had
been debated for some time by the
great figures of science. The question
was finally settled in the early 19th
century by brilliant experiments that
could be thoroughly interpreted by
theory. The experiments told scien-
tists of the time that light was un-
equivocally a wave and not particles.
But about 1900, other experiments
turned up that showed just as un-
equivocally that light is a stream of
particles rather than waves. Thus
physicists were presented with a deeply
disturbing paradox. Its solution took
several decades and was only accom-
plished in the mid-1920's by the devel-
opment of a new set of ideas known
as quantum mechanics.
The trouble was that scientists were
thinking in terms of their common
62
Improvement Era
Albert Einstein and Job. Faith is necessary to men of both science and religion, says Dr.
Townes. A firm belief in an orderly universe, somewhat like Job's durable conviction,
sustained Einstein. "God is very subtle," he once remarked, "but he is not malicious."
everyday experience, and that experi-
ence encompassed the behavior of
large objects but not yet many atomic
phenomena. Examination of light or
atoms in detail brings us into a new
realm of very small quantities with
which we have had no previous ex-
perience, and where our intuitions
could well be untrustworthy. And now
in retrospect, it is not at all surprising
that the study of matter on the atomic
scale has taught us new things, and
that some are inconsistent with ideas
that previously had seemed so clear.
Physicists today believe that light is
neither precisely a wave nor a particle,
but both, and we were mistaken in even
asking the question, "Is light a particle
or is it a wave?" It can display both
properties. So can all matter, includ-
ing baseballs and locomotives. We
don't ordinarily observe this duality in
large objects, because they do not
show wave properties prominently. But
in principle we believe they are there.
We have come to believe other
strange phenomena as well. Suppose
an electron is put in a long box where
it may travel back and forth. Physical
theory now tells us that, under certain
conditions, the electron will sometimes
be found toward one end of the box
and sometimes toward the other, but
never in the middle. This statement
clashes absurdly with ideas of an elec-
tron moving back and forth, and yet
most physicists today are quite con-
vinced of its validity and can demon-
strate its essential truth in the
laboratory.
yi nother strange aspect of the new
/ \ quantum mechanics is called
* * the uncertainty principle.
This principle shows that if we try to
say exactly where a particle (or object)
is, we cannot at the same time say
exactly how fast it is going and in what
direction; or, if we determine its ve-
locity, we can never say exactly what
its position is. According to this theory,
Laplace was wrong from the beginning.
If he were alive today, he would prob-
ably understand along with other
contemporary physicists that it is
fundamentally impossible to obtain the
information necessary for his precise
predictions, even if he were dealing
with only one single particle, rather
than with the entire universe.
The modern laws of science seem,
then, to have turned our thinking away
from complete determinism and to-
ward a world where chance plays a
major role. It is chance on an atomic
scale, but there are situations and
times when the random change in posi-
tion of one atom or one electron can
materially affect the large-scale affairs
of life and, in fact, our entire society.
A striking example involves Queen
Victoria, who, through one such event
on an atomic scale, became a mutant
and passed on to certain male de-
scendants in Europe's royal families
the trait of hemophilia. Thus one un-
predictable event on an atomic scale
had its effect on both the Spanish
royal family and, through an afflicted
czarevitch, on the stability of the
Russian throne.
This new view of a world that is not
February 1968
63
some of the most
fundamental scientific
ideas have
been overturned . . ."
predictable from physical laws was not
at all easy for physicists of the older
tradition to accept. Even Einstein, one
of the architects of quantum mechan-
ics, never completely accepted the
indeterminism of chance that it implies.
"Herr Gott wurfelt nicht" — the Lord
God doesn't throw dice! It is interest-
ing to note also that Russian Com-
munism, with its roots in 19th century
determinism, for a long time took a
strong doctrinaire position against the
new physics of quantum mechanics.
When scientists pressed on to ex-
amine still other realms outside our
common experience, further surprises
were found. For objects of much
higher velocities than we ordinarily
experience, relativity shows that very
strange things happen. First, objects
can never go faster than a certain
speed, regardless of how hard they
are pushed. Their absolute maximum
speed is that of light — 186,000 miles
per second. Further, when objects are
going fast, they become shorter and
more massive — they change shape and
also weigh more. Even time moves at
a different rate; if we send a clock
off at a high velocity, it runs slower.
This peculiar behavior of time is the
origin of the famous cat-kitten con-
ceptual experiment. Take a litter of six
kittens and divide them into two
groups. Keep three of them on earth;
send the other three off in a rocket
at a speed nearly as fast as light, and
after one year bring them back. The
earth kittens will obviously have be-
come cats, but the ones sent into
space will have remained kittens. This
theory has not been tested with kittens,
but it has been checked experimentally
with the aging of inanimate objects
and seems to be quite correct. Today
the vast majority of scientists believe
it true.
Scientists have now become a good
deal more cautious and modest about
extending scientific ideas into realms
where they have not yet been thor-
oughly tested. Of course, an important
part of the game of science is, in fact,
the development of general laws that
can be extended into new realms. These
laws are often remarkably successful
in telling us new things or in predict-
ing things that we have not yet directly
observed. And yet we must always be
aware that such extensions may be
wrong, and wrong in very fundamental
ways. In spite of all the changes in
our views, it is reassuring to note that
the laws of 19th century science were
not so far wrong in the realm in which
they were initially applied — that of
ordinary velocities and of objects
larger than the point of a pin. In this
realm they were essentially right, and
we still teach the laws of Newton or of
Maxwell, because in their own im-
portant sphere they are valid and
useful.
We know today that the most
sophisticated present scientific the-
ories, including modern quantum
mechanics, are still incomplete. We
use them because in certain areas they
are so amazingly right. Yet they lead
us at times into inconsistencies that
we do not understand, and where we
must recognize that we have missed
some crucial ideas. We simply admit
and accept the paradoxes and hope that
sometime in the future they will be
resolved by a more complete under-
standing. In fact, by recognizing these
paradoxes clearly and studying them,
we can perhaps best understand the
limitations in our thinking and correct
them.
With this background on the real
state of scientific understanding, we
come now to the similarity and near
identity of science and religion. The
goal of science is to discover the order
in the universe, and to understand
through this order the things we sense
around us — even man himself. This
order we express as scientific principles
or laws, striving to state them in the
simplest and yet most inclusive ways.
I believe the goal of religion is to un-
derstand (and hence accept) the
purpose and meaning of our universe
and how we fit into it. Most religions
see a unifying and inclusive origin of
meaning, and this supreme purpose-
ful force we call God.
Understanding the order in the uni-
verse and understanding the purpose
in the universe are not identical, but
they are also not very far apart. It is
interesting that the Japanese word for
physics is butsuri, which translated
means simply the reason for things.
Thus we readily and inevitably link
closely together the nature and the
purpose of our universe.
What are the aspects of religion
and science that often make them
seem almost diametrically opposite?
Many of them come, I believe, out of
differences in language used for his-
torical reasons, and many from quanti-
tative differences that are large enough
that unconsciously we assume they are
qualitative ones. Let us consider some
of the aspects where science and re-
ligion may superficially look very
different.
The essential role of faith in religion
is so well-known that taking things on
faith rather than proving them is
usually taken as characteristic of re-
ligion and as distinguishing religion
from science. But faith is essential to
science too, although we do not so
generally recognize the basic need and
nature of faith in science.
Faith is necessary for the scientist
even to get started, and deep faith is
necessary for him to carry out his
tougher tasks. Why? Because he must
have confidence that there is order in
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Most important
scientific discoveries
.are closely akin
to revelation
the universe and that the human mind
— in fact, his own mind — has a good
chance of understanding this order.
Without this confidence, there would
be little point in intense effort to try
to understand a presumably disorderly
or incomprehensible world. Such a
world would take us back to the days
of superstition, when man thought
capricious forces manipulated his uni-
verse. In fact, it is just this faith in an
orderly universe, understandable to
man, that allowed the basic change
from an age of superstition to an age
of science and has made possible our
scientific progress.
The necessity of faith in science is
reminiscent of the description of re-
ligious faith attributed to Constantine:
"I believe so that I may know." But
such faith is now so deeply rooted in
the scientist that most of us never stop
to think that it is there at all.
Einstein affords a rather explicit
example of faith in order, and many of
his contributions come from intuitive
devotion to a particularly appealing
type of order. One of his famous re-
marks is inscribed in German in Fine
Hall at Princeton: "God is very subtle,
but he is not malicious." That is, the
world that God has constructed may
be very intricate and difficult for us to
understand, but it is not arbitrary and
illogical. Einstein spent the last half
of his life looking for a unity between
gravitational and electromagnetic fields.
Many physicists feel that he was on
the wrong track, and no one yet knows
whether he made any substantial
progress. But he had faith in a great
vision of unity and order, and he
worked intensively at it for 30 years
or more. Einstein had to have the kind
of dogged conviction that could have
allowed him to say with Job, "Though
he slay me, yet will I trust in him."
For lesser scientists, on lesser
projects, there are frequent occasions
when things just don't make sense, and
making order and understanding out of
one's work seems almost hopeless.
But still the scientist has faith that
there is order to be found, and that
either he or his colleagues will some-
day find it.
Another common idea about the
difference between science and
religion is based on their meth-
ods of discovery. Religion's discoveries
often come by great revelations.
Scientific knowledge comes by logical
deductions, or by the accumulation of
data that are analyzed by established
methods in order to draw generaliza-
tions called laws. But such a de-
scription of scientific discovery is a
travesty on the real thing. Most of the
important scientific discoveries come
about very differently and are much
more closely akin to revelation. The
term itself is generally not used for
scientific discovery, since we are in
the habit of reserving revelation for the
religious realm. In scientific circles
one speaks of intuition, accidental
discovery, or simply that someone had
a wonderful idea.
If we compare how great scientific
ideas arrive, we see that they all look
remarkably like religious revelation
viewed in a non-mystical way.
Think of Moses in the desert, long
troubled and wondering about the
problem of saving the children of
Israel, when suddenly he had a revela-
tion by the burning bush.
Consider some of the revelations of
the New Testament.
Improvement Era
Think of Gautama Buddha, who
traveled and inquired for years in an
effort to understand what was good
and then one day sat down quietly
under a Bo tree where his great ideas
were revealed.
Similarly, the scientist, after hard
work and much emotional and intel-
lectual commitment to a troubling
problem, sometimes suddenly sees the
answer. Such ideas much more often
come during off-moments than while
confronting data.
A striking and well-known example is
the discovery of the benzene ring by
Kekule, who, while musing at his fire-
side, was led to the idea of a vision
of snakes taking their tails in their
mouths.
We cannot yet describe the hu-
man process that leads to the crea-
tion of an important and substantially
new scientific insight. But it is clear
that the great scientific discoveries,
the real leaps, do not usually come
from the so-called "scientific method,"
but rather more as did Kekule's — per-
haps with less picturesque imagery,
but by revelations that are just as
real.
Another aspect of the difference be-
tween science and religion is based on
the notion that religious ideas depend
only on faith and revelation, while
science succeeds in actually proving its
points. In this view, proofs give to
scientific ideas a certain kind of abso-
lutism and universalism that religious
ideas have only in the claims of their
proponents. But the actual nature of
scientific "proof" is rather different
from such simple ideas.
Mathematical or logical proof in-
volves choice of some set of postu-
lates, which hopefully are consistent
with one another and which apply to a
situation of interest. In the case of
natural science, they are presumed to
apply to the world around us.
Then, on the basis of agreed-on laws
of logic, which must be assumed, one
can derive or "prove" the conse-
quences of these sets of postulates.
How can we be sure the postulates
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are satisfactory? The mathematician
Godel has shown that in the most
generally used mathematics, it is funda-
mentally impossible to know whether
or not the set of postulates chosen are
even self-consistent. Only by con-
structing and using a new set of
master postulates can we test the con-
sistency of the first set. But these in
turn may be logically inconsistent
without the possibility of our knowing
it. Thus we never have a real base
from which we can reason with surety.
Godel doubled our surprises by showing
that, in this same mathematical realm,
there are always mathematical truths
that fundamentally cannot be proved
by the approach of normal logic. His
important proofs came only about three
decades ago, and have profoundly af-
fected our view of human logic.
There is another way by which we
become convinced that a scientific idea
or postulate is valid. In the natural
sciences, we prove it by making some
kind of test of the postulate against
experience. We devise experiments to
test our working hypotheses, and be-
lieve that those laws or hypotheses are
correct that seem to agree with our
experience. Such tests can disprove
a hypothesis, or can give us useful
confidence in its applicability and cor-
rectness, but they can never prove in
any absolute sense.
Can religious beliefs also be
viewed as working hypotheses,
to be tested and validated by
experience? To some this may seem a
secular and even an abhorrent view.
In any case, it discards absolutism in
religion. But I see no reason why
acceptance of religion on this basis
should be objectionable. The validity
of religious ideas must be and has
been tested and judged through the
ages by the experience of societies and
of individuals. Is there any great
need for them to be more absolute
than the law of gravity? The latter is a
working hypothesis whose basis and
permanency we do not know. But we
risk our lives daily on our belief in
it, as well as on many other complex
scientific hypotheses.
Science usually deals with problems
that are so much simpler and situations
that are so much more easily con-
trollable than does religion. The quan-
titative difference in the directness
with which we can test hypotheses in
sciences and religion generally hides
the logical similarities that are there.
A controlled experiment on religious
ideas is perhaps not at all possible,
and we rely for evidence primarily on
human history and personal expe"ience.
But certain aspects of natural science
and the extension of science into social
sciences have also required similar use
of experience and observation in testing
hypotheses.
Suppose now that we were to accept
completely the proposition that science
and religion are essentially similar.
Where does this leave us, and where
does it lead us? Religion can, I believe,
profit from the experience of science,
where the hard facts of nature and
the tangibility of evidence have beaten
into our thinking some ideas that man-
kind has often resisted.
First, we must recognize the tenta-
tive nature of knowledge. Our present
understanding of science or of religion
is likely, if it agrees with experience, to
continue to have an important degree
of validity just as does Newtonian
mechanics. But there may be many
deeper things that we do not yet know
Intoxication
By Paul
Armstrong
Ideas will intoxicate,
If swallowed fast and taken straight;
Will cause a kind of pressure pain,
Infused into an empty brain;
And some would claim it more than fiction
That frequent use may cause addiction.
Improvement Era
and that, when discovered, may modify
our thinking in very basic ways.
We must also expect paradoxes, and
not be surprised or unduly troubled by
them. We know of paradoxes in
physics, such as that concerning the
nature of light, which have been re-
solved by deeper understanding. We
know of some that are still unresolved.
In the realm of religion, we are
troubled by the suffering around us
and its apparent inconsistency with a
God of love. Such paradoxes con-
fronting science do not usually destroy
our faith in science. They simply re-
mind us of a limited understanding,
and at times they provide a key to
learning more.
Perhaps in the realm of religion
there will be cases of the uncertainty
principle, which we now know as such
a characteristic phenomenon of phys-
ics. If it is fundamentally impossible
to determine accurately both the posi-
tion and velocity of a particle, it should
not surprise us if similar limitations
occur in other aspects of our experi-
ence. This opposition in the precise
determination of two quantities is also
referred to as complementarity; posi-
tion and velocity represent comple-
mentary aspects of a particle, only one
of which can be measured precisely at
any one time.
Nils Bohr has already suggested that
perception of man and his physical
constitution represents this kind of
complementarity. That is, the precise
and close examination of the atomic
makeup of man may of necessity blur
our view of him as a living and spiritual
being. In any case, there seems to be
no justification for the dogmatic posi-
tion taken by some that the remarkable
phenomenon of individual human per-
sonality can be expressed completely in
terms of the presently known laws of
behavior and molecules. Justice and
love may also represent such comple-
mentarity. A completely loving ap-
proach and the simultaneous meting
out of exact justice hardly seem
consistent.
These examples are only somewhat
fuzzy analogies of complementarity as
it is known in science, or they may in-
deed be valid, though still poorly
defined, occurrences of the uncertainty
principle. But in any case, we should
expect such occurrences and be fore-
warned by science that there will be
fundamental limitations to our knowing
everything at once with precision and
consistency.
Finally, if science and religion are
so broadly similar, and not arbi-
trarily limited in their domain, they
should at some time clearly converge.
I believe this confluence is inevitable,
for they both represent man's efforts
to understand his universe and must
ultimately be dealing with the same
substance. As we understand more in
each realm, the two must grow to-
gether. Perhaps by the time this
convergence occurs, science will have
been through a number of revolutions
as striking as those that have occurred
in the last century and will have taken
on a character not readily recognizable
by scientists of today. Perhaps our
religious understanding will also have
seen progress and change. But con-
verge they must, and through this
should come new strength for both.
In the meantime, with tentative un-
derstanding, uncertainty, and change,
how can we live gloriously and act
decisively today? It is this problem, I
suspect, that has so often tempted man
to insist that he has final and ultimate
truth locked in some particular phrase-
ology or symbolism, even when the
phraseology may mean a hundred
different things to a hundred different
people. How well we are able to
commit our lives to ideas that we
recognize in principle as only tentative
represents a real test of mind and
emotions.
Galileo espoused the cause of
Copernicus' theory of the solar system
at great personal cost because of the
church's opposition. We know today
that the question on which Galileo
took his stand, -the correctness of
the idea that the earth rotates around
the sun rather than the sun around the
"We must expect
paradoxes,
and not be surprised
or unduly troubled
by them."
earth, is largely an unnecessary ques-
tion. The two descriptions are equiva-
lent, according to general relativity,
although the first is simpler. And yet
we honor Galileo for his pioneering
courage and determination in deciding
what he really thought was right and
speaking out. This was important to
his own integrity and to the develop-
ment of the scientific and religious
views of the time.
The authority of religion seemed
more crucial in Galileo's Italy than it
usually does today, and science
seemed more fresh and simple. We
tend to think of ourselves as now more
sophisticated, and of both science and
religion as more complicated, so that
our position can be less clear-cut. Yet
if we accept the assumption of either
science or religion, that truth exists,
surely each of us should undertake the
same kind of task as did Galileo, or
as did Gautama long before him. For
ourselves and for mankind, we must
use our best wisdom and instincts, the
evidence of history and wisdom of the
ages, and the experience and revela-
tions of our friends and heroes in order
to get as close as possible to truth
and meaning. Furthermore, we must
be willing to live and act on our
conclusions. O
February 1968
69
• Long and lonely are the days, To those who search to find
And dark and empty are the their God.
nights.
The work we have is long and And there are those who heed us
hard not —
As we attempt to spread the Who don't believe tve have this
light call —
Of truth and happiness abroad, Whom, we must warn of what
Richard L. Evans
The Spoken Word
The cycle of our worries
The cycle of our moods and worries is puzzling at times. The same
troubles and difficulties that worry us at one time do not so much
worry us at another. The same problems that cause sleeplessness
at one time do not seem so much to do so at another. The change is often
in us, more than in external events. A physical symptom, concern about
a loved one, concern about ourselves may run from optimism to deep
depression with about the same set of circumstances, except within
ourselves. When we worry we are less efficient; we contribute to the
cause and slow down the cure. Whatever the cause, we should do what
we can do, and not just brood and wonder and hope our worry will
go away. If we are young and worrying about the future, we should
study and prepare and make ourselves as competent as we can. If our
worry comes from a troubled conscience, we should repent, be prayer-
ful, cultivate a simple faith, and keep the commandments. Whatever
our worries, we should not brood in the dark. Darkness is dangerous.
It is physically, mentally, emotionally dangerous. We should take our
worries out and look at them in the light, separate facts from fears,
think things through, and not imagine the worst on a sleepless night.
"Life is thickly sown with thorns," said Voltaire, "and I know no other
remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our
misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us." All men have down
days, discouraging days, difficulties and depression. Countless people
have conquered, have overcome, have picked up broken pieces, or
have gone on even when there weren't many pieces to pick up. We
need faith and facts and good plain common sense to lift us from the
down days and the darkness, remembering that discouragement and
depression often come from the distortion of darkness. This sentence
from Marcus Aurelius is oversimplified, but since worry is often caused
by doing nothing about something we should be doing, for many situa-
tions it has within it something of real substance: "I do my duty," he
said; "other things trouble me not."1
'The Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, XII i.
#"The Spoken Word" from Temple Square, presented over KSL and the Columbia
Broadcasting System November 26, 1967. Copyright 1967.
will come.
This is the hardest part of all,
For they will merit their re-
ward
For heeding not our joyous
word.
But where are those of Israel
Who search to find the upward
path'?
Where shall we find, those chosen,
few
Who seek to parry Justice's
wrath
With kindly, golden, selfless
deeds
To satisfy another's needs ?
For to these people we are sent,
But they are hidden — hard to
find —
And we more often speak to
those -
70
Improvement Era
With spirits beaming, good and
kind,
Who seek not for a better way,
But close their minds to what
iv e say.
Oh, the aching in my heart!
Oh, the agony of mind! —
When I see the blinding wall
Before these people — good, and,
kind —
Which blocks from them the
glowing vision
They could see if they would
listen!
If only I could give to them
A moment's view of what I see!
If only I could raise in them
A moment's hope that they could
be
A being on a higher plane,
With glory which would never
wane l
The Call
By Geary R. Younce
But I remember they are given
Agency with which to choose
Those things which they most
want to have
And also those they want to lose.
For to each person it is given
To choose the role he ivants in
heaven.
But of the words I give to them,
I testify as to their truth.
For on the final judgment day
I want to stand ivithout reproof;
That I may hear the ivords,
"Well done!
Come thou and live with me,
my son.
O
Richard L. Evans
The Spoken Word
Humor on high and low levels
Humor is essential to a full and happy life. It is a reliever and
relaxer of pressure and tension, and the saving element in many
situations. But there are different kinds of humor, prompted by
different spirits, some sincere, some unacceptable. There is delightful,
wholesome humor that heals and helps the spirit and gives a lift to life.
There is giddy, trivial humor that produces light-minded laughter— the
all-but-vacant and inconsequential kind that comes with little content,
little cause. There is evil humor, grim humor, humor that embarrasses,
and humor that is cruel, unkind. There is humor that is unclean, and
that has no place among considerate people or in decent society. There
is an account of a man who cautioned a speaker against telling off-color
stories, because, said he, "There are ladies present"— to which someone
added the observation that there were also gentlemen present. The
assumption that something suggestive, low-minded, or unclean is all
right in one kind of audience but not in another is a questionable assump-
tion. Anything filthy or basically unclean is wrong in any audience.
One of the frequent and unfortunate mistakes that some speakers and
performers and masters of ceremonies make is assuming that they should
degrade themselves and their audience with suggestive, unclean stories-
stories that are filthier than they are funny, to the embarrassment of
every decent-minded person. Even when suggestive and unclean humor
gets a laugh, it is more likely the laugh of embarrassment, rather than of
genuine amusement: embarrassment for the poor judgment of him who
has gone so far as to forget decency and good taste; for him who goes
below the level of what is clean, to what is supposedly clever even if
unclean. We lower our own level and contribute to the downpull of
young and impressionable people when we inject unclean, low-minded
humor into any part of any proceedings, in public or in private. We
may well be grateful for the man of clean mind, and for the gift and
blessing of kindly, wholesome humor, which adds a wonderful lift
to life.
*'The Spoken Word" from TempleSquare, presented over KSL and the Columbia
Broadcasting System November 12, 1967. Copyright 1967.
February 1968
71
The LDS Scene
Guatemala Seminary
Brother Alan Baldizon of the Guatemala Stake instructs
youth in one of two early morning seminary classes
organized in the Guatemala Stake. Stake President Udine
Falabella teaches the other class. More than
40 LDS youth attended classes in Book of Mormon
this past year. Greater numbers are expected in
the present school year, which began in January and
continues until October.
Temple Square Lighting
For the third straight year, Temple Square was aglow
with over 100,000 colorful Christmas lights, which drew
large crowds of visitors during the Christmas season.
Thousands of tiny globes lit up every limb, branch, and
twig in a wide circle of wintering sycamores, maples,
box elders, birches, and pines. A tableau of scenes of
the Nativity was also well received by visitors, as
were huge reproductions of paintings on the life of Christ,
which were placed near the center walkway. Inside
the Tabernacle, performances of the opera "Amahl and
the Night Visitors" were presented for several nights to
capacity crowds. Some 63 television stations throughout
the U.S. carried a special 30-minute color presentation
of "Christmas on Temple Square," which featured
the lighting, the Nativity display, and the Tabernacle Choir.
Interstate Commerce
Commissioner
Grant E. Syphers has been
appointed by President
Lyndon B. Johnson as a
commissioner on the
Interstate Commerce
Commission. Brother
Syphers, new resident of
the Fairfax (Virginia) Ward,
formerly resided in West
Arcadia (California) Ward.
The Interstate Commerce
Commission, oldest
regulatory commission in
U.S. government, regulates
interstate transportation
and commerce in the
United States.
72
Improvement Era
Polynesian Center
Director
Lawrence Haneberg of
Honolulu, Hawaii, has been
named vice-president and
general manager of the
Church's Polynesian Cultural
Center in Laie, Hawaii.
Brother Haneberg, formerly
a member of the Honolulu
Stake presidency, has a
strong family heritage
in Hawaii. His grandfather
was an early Hawaiian
sugar planter and co-
founder of Clorox Chemical
'Company. Brother Hane-
berg will coordinate
management of the six
authentic villages — Hawaiian,
Tongan, Samoan, Maori,
Tahitian, and Fijian —
that make up the famed
tourist center.
Distinguished Service
Award
LeRoy R. Stevens, president
of Stevens Henager Business
College and member of
the Monument Park (Salt
Lake City) 15th Ward, has
received the distinguished
service award of the
United Business Schools
Association. The association
has a membership of
more than 500 schools in
Educational
Post
Dr. Earl C. Crockett,
academic vice-president of
Brigham Young University,
has been reelected
chairman of the high com-
mission of the Northwest
Association of Secondary and
Higher Schools for two
additional years. It is only
the second time in the
organization's history that
a chairman has been
reelected. The association is
the official accrediting
agency for universities,
colleges, and high schools
in Montana, Utah, Idaho,
Washington, Oregon, Nevada,
and Alaska. In 1964,
Dr. Crockett served as acting
president of Brigham
Young University.
BY High School to Close
After 92 years of service, the Brigham Young High
and Elementary School will discontinue operation at the
end of the current 1968 school year. Originally a
part of Brigham Young Academy, the school had as its
purpose the training of student teachers. However,
increasing numbers of students in education have long
required the placement of BYU student-teachers in
districts throughout Utah and surrounding states.
BY High students, in the center hallway
between classes, swarm in front of a trophy case loaded
with evidence of their triumphs over the years.
North and South America,
representing enrollment of
over 200,000 students.
Sao Paulo Exhibit
Bishop Helio da Rocha Camargo of the Sao Paulo (Brazil)
Second Ward explains the importance of religion to
Jose de Almeida Leite, head of Sao Paulo's department
of culture and education, at the opening of the
Brazilian Mission's pavilion at the Lapa Municipal Library.
At the request of officials, the exhibit was shown in all
13 of Sao Paulo's municipal libraries. Much praise was
received for the exhibit's high quality and its message
of love and peace.
February 1968
73
The Church A/loves On
Richard L. Evans
The Spoken Word
Thanks: for the organization and
operation of the earth
In considering things to be thankful for, there is this we often take for
granted: the organization and operation of the earth. "What would
this life of ours be like," asked one writer, "if Chance ruled our
destinies? If, for instance— Autumn might or might not succeed Sum-
mer, Spring might or might not follow Winter. A weary world that
would truly be . . . left to the buffeting of an unknown yet all-pervading
caprice."1 What if there were no air of the right kind in the right
quantity, renewing itself for our sustenance; or water, which we some-
times thoughtlessly pollute or waste away; or heat and cold within the
right range; or soil and all the processes by which it produces; the sun,
the seasons, the renewal of spring, the growing of summer, the harvest
of autumn, the dormancy of winter, the endless products and provi-
dence of the mountains, the sea, the fields, the forests. "Why should
they be a matter of course? What have I, or you, what has any man
done that earth should glow with beauty, . . . should hang . . . fruit upon
the bending boughs . . . ? Surely ... we might ... be ready with thank-
ful recognition of a bounty that . . . has gone on supplying [man's] needs
through the . . . ages of the past, and supplies them still."1 And not only
for the physical organization of the earth, but for loved ones, for life —
the purpose, the mystery, the miracle of it, the birth of a babe, which
gives added reason for the reality of eternal continuance, the renewal
of resurrection; for it is no greater miracle to have life everlasting than
to have life here and now. And so, gratefully we acknowledge the
infinite mind of our Maker, and gratefully ought to offer our tithes
and offerings, and earnestly consistent service, in thanks for all that
God has given, and keep his commandments in remembrance of the
love and providence and purpose of the Creator, the God and Father
of us all, the organizer and operator of heaven and earth, without whom
all these things would not be so. Thank God for all this: for life and
what sustains it, for loved ones that make it meaningful, for faith and
purpose and continuance, always and forever. Thank God for all of
this— and much, much more.
1"The Thankful Month," Lewis's Magazine,
* "The Spoken Word" from Temple Square, presented over KSL and the Columbia
Broadcasting System November 19, 1967. Copyright 1967.
November 1967
(_New stake presidencies: President
William P. Barnes and counselors
Reed M. Nielsen and Howard E. Gibson
in the Lost River (Idaho) Stake; Presi-
dent Richard L. Warner and counselors
Richard J. Marshall and Graham W.
Doxey in the University First (Salt Lake
City) Stake; President Douglas J. Mar-
tin and counselors C. Sydney Shepherd
and Albert M. Kewene in Hamilton (New
Zealand) Stake.
Hamilton South (New Zealand) Stake
was organized from parts of Hamilton
Stake by Elder Thomas S. Monson of
the Council of the Twelve and Presi-
dent Paul H. Dunn of the First Council
of the Seventy. Sustained as president
was Harry S. Peckham, with Larry R.
Oler and Raymond W. Ritchie as coun-
selors. This is the 445th stake now
functioning.
[Elder Chris Russell Sampson, 20,
serving in the Florida Mission, was
killed in an automobile accident at West
Palm Beach, Florida. His home was
Apple Gate, California. His companion,
Elder Steven Thomas Olsen of Monroe,
Utah, was injured in the same mishap.
His injuries are not considered serious.
Texas North Stake was organized
by Elder Richard L. Evans of the
Council of the Twelve and Elder Ber-
nard P. Brockbank, Assistant to the
Twelve. Sustained were President
Franklin S. Gonzalez and counselors
John M. Anderson and Milton L. Pierce.
This is the 446th stake now functioning.
A collection of Egyptian papyri,
once owned by the Prophet Joseph
Smith, was given to the Church by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
York City. (See the January Era.)
Perth (Australia) Stake, 447th now
i functioning, was organized under
the direction of Elder Thomas S. Mon-
son of the Council of the Twelve and
Bishop Robert L. Simpson of the
74
Improvement Era
Presiding Bishopric. Donald W. Cum-
mings was sustained as president, with
Leslie E. Williams and Derek A. Edwards
as counselors.
December 1967
New stake presidencies: President
Robert W. Barker and counselors
June B. Thane and Wendell G. Eames,
Washington (D.C.) Stake; President
Richard P. Shumway and counselors
Arden L. Rowley and Dean B. Farns-
worth, Orem West (Utah) Stake; Presi-
dent Stephen L Van Wagener and
counselors Dean O. Peck and Samuel
L. Hamilton, North Sacramento (Cali-
fornia) Stake; President Clive V. Tenney
and counselors E Craig Harper and
Joseph C. Price, San Diego (California)
East Stake.
Multi-colored lights — more than
100,000 of them — were turned on
at Temple Square this evening, high-
lighting other decorations and scenes
on Temple Square, all heralding the
coming Christmas season.
Simi Stake, named for a ward and
the Council of the Twelve and Elder
Sterling W. Sill, Assistant to the Twelve.
It was taken from the Reseda and
Canoga Park stakes, and is the 448th
stake now functioning. Sustained were
President John Lyman Ballif and coun-
selors Lloyd S. Moffit and Noal T.
Greenwood.
New stake presidencies: President
Dennis K. Myers and counselors Reed
V. Langlois and Grant V. Bunderson in
the San Diego South (California) Stake;
President Robert D. Orme and coun-
selors Horace E. Hess and Vincent A.
Birch in the Yellowstone (Idaho) Stake.
The Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir
presented its 2,000th weekly radio
network program.
President David 0. McKay attended
the annual Christmas meeting of
General Authorities and employees of
the Church Administration Building.
The meeting also honored the birth of
the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Presi-
dent's message was read by a son,
General Superintendent David Law-
rence McKay of the Sunday Schools.
A total of 63 television stations
a geographical location in Cali- LAI are carrying a special 30-minute
fornia, was organized under the direc- color presentation of "Christmas on
tion of Elder Howard W. Hunter of Temple Square" this year.
A Warning
By Kenneth
W. G. Catran
On Cumorah's crest, the Prophet lay,
bathed red in the set of a fatal day.
Great Mormon raised his hand and cried,
"This day a faithless people died.
"Once proud and fair, a joy to behold,
with cities of stone, and spires of gold.
Alas! They forsook their Christian zeal
and now lie dead 'neath a heathen heel.
"A savage stalks the fruitful land
with flaming torch in upraised hand.
But 'twas not him with his painted face
that spelt thy doom, O wayward race.
"A Tower of Babel toithin the mind
brought to an end my Nephite kind.
They would not heed their God on high
and so are sprawled 'neath a darkening sky.'
February 1968
Kodak Film
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75
Buffs
and
Rebuffs
LDS Congressmen
In October and November you ran the
viewpoints of LDS congressmen. Per-
sonally, we have nothing against this. We
like to know which Church members are
serving in Congress, and what their views
are. However, recently we have heard
speakers in Church using quotations
from these congressmen, and indicating
that these quotations represent the
Church's stand on certain issues. For
instance, we know from study that the
population explosion is not the worst
problem we have. Rather, Communism
is our worst problem. We know that the
purpose of the articles was good, but
some people take for granted that be-
cause these men belong to the Church,
what they say is Church policy.
Brother and Sister Savage
Cottage Grove, Oregon
Congressmen — even members of the
Church — are official representatives of
their constituents and themselves only,
and not of the Church. Their viewpoints
were clearly labeled personal, and as such
were published for the interest and stimu-
lation of Era readers.
Two and a Half Years Later
In a belated reading of "Neither Purse
nor Sword" (August 1965) by Dr. G.
Homer Durham, concerning the U.S. Su-
preme Court, I could not disagree with
it more. I believe that this idea of five
men out of nine being able to flout the
plain intent of the legislators is going to
be the ruin of our constitutional republic
if it is not curbed.
These officials are sworn to "protect,
uphold, and defend" the Constitution.
Also, the comparison of the evolution of
the body of the law in Rome and Britain
with the U.S. is not valid because the
former two did not have a rigid, written
constitution. True, we drew heavily on
thousands of years of western civilization
in writing the U.S. Constitution, but once
written and adopted, it was not to be
changed by other than the means pro-
vided.
I am thoroughly convinced that our
Constitution is a divine document, writ-
ten by men raised up by God for that
very purpose.
William H. Edwards
Phoenix, Arizona
"Morals and Politics . . ."
The column "Morals and Politics in In-
ternational Life" ( November ) appears
to me to be out of harmony both with
the scriptures and with the repeated ad-
montions of our modern prophets. ,
Had the philosophy of separating mo-
rality from politics been observed, I feel
sure we would never have had our
Declaration of Independence or our Con-
stitution.
If the philosophy of the article were
projected, it would appear that we should
surrender to the Communists once they
were demonstrably superior to us from a
military standpoint. I think we should
die first!
W. Vaughn Ellsworth
Mesa, Arizona
Rulon H. Cheney
Vice-President
382-2875
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76
Improvement Era
We Won't Strike
May I express my thanks to all concerned
with the publication of the Era. From this
wonderful magazine I get quite a kick. I
love to read about the true Church of
Jesus Christ. Since being introduced to
the Church by my son Peter, my home
has now been transformed into a happy
one. No words can really express the
wonderful work the young elders do
here. The hard work and sincerity of
these boys is very moving.
Sometime back I felt that I was re-
jected not only by my family but by
everyone with whom I came into con-
tact. Now I look back on those years
and say to myself, "What a waste of
years." I am still alone but not lonely.
The love of our Heavenly Father, health,
happiness, and the blessings of God are
worth more than money.
May I offer my thanks to everyone con-
cerned with the Era. I have no com-
plaints about it. But please don't you
get the strike bug. (In our community a
big strike is going on.) I can't help
wondering what would happen if our
Heavenly Father were to go on strike.
Mrs. Rosemary Morris
Leamington, Pennsylvania
Stayed Up All Night
Perhaps you would like to know that
one of our investigators stayed up all
night to read the Eras we loaned her.
Now that she is a member of the Church,
she is passing them on to her friends to
enjoy.
Elder Jerry L. Blackburn
New Town
Tasmania, Australia
Life Among the Mormons
The poetic series "Life Among the Mor-
mons" in the "End of an Era" has been
outstanding in its frankness, good humor,
and incisive truth and accuracy. I find
it much in the tradition of some of the
folk songs, like "Once I lived in Cotton-
wood," in which the nineteenth century
Latter-day Saint pioneer didn't hesitate
to satirize the foibles of those both low
and high. After all, though the gospel
is perfect, no single one of us is.
Robert W. Donigan
Logan, Utah
Compartmentalized Saint
I would like to tell you how much I, and
many more with me in our ward, liked
the two-part article "Parable of the Com-
partmentalized Saint" ( September-Octo-
ber). In reading the part about exposing
the body in beauty contests, and in read-
ing the Prophet's thoughts on the subject,
it came to my mind that there are various
publications about our Church written
by respected members, and some of these
publications even carry favorable articles
and photographs of beauty queens who
are LDS. Does this agree with Church
principles and standards? Would these
things not have been better left out?
Bob deBoer
Scarborough
Ontario, Canada
LDS BOOKS AND RECORDS
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February 1968
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78
• Morals constitute the concern
for what is right and what is wrong.
"Low" morals in common talk
refer to standards or conduct on
one end of the scale. "High moral
standards" generally mean that
things or conduct are on the right
side. Ordinary people usually say
a thing is good or bad. Public
figures, politicians, teachers,
preachers, executive speechmak-
ers, however, usually talk about
"morals."
For some time we have been
hearing about "the crisis in
morality," or "the new morality,"
or "moral stagnation," and so
forth. Generally speaking, in the
public domain, the meanings of
such terms go undefined. But the
implication runs to the point that
things are pretty bad and about
to get worse. It has gone this way
throughout history. Moral concern
goes with the facts and acts of
living.
The moral teachings of Jesus,
as disclosed in the Four Gospels,
set forth the highest standards of
individual and social conduct, to-
gether with the greatest sense of
compassion and understanding
By Dr. G. Homer
Durham
President,
Arizona State University
(together with forgiveness) of
human frailty. His words, "Neither
do I condemn thee: go, and sin
no more" (John 8:11), afford
comfort. Few, aside from Jesus,
ever utter them. Nor are prayers
often heard for "them which de-
spitefully use you." (Matt. 5:44.)
Nor is love displayed toward ene-
mies. The Gospels tell us that
moral conduct, right or wrong, is
a matter of attitude — of the heart,
mind, and spirit, as well as the
physical performance of the hand,
foot, or body; that in order to keep
ourselves in a state of grace, it
helps to be forgiving and merciful
to others, as a means of disciplin-
ing our own feelings, conduct, and
expressions.
This leads to one thought as to
what may be wrong in the present
world. It is that hardly anyone
takes time to read what Jesus
himself said and did. He continues
to be, in Bruce Barton's words, the
man nobody knows. If this wrong
could be righted, some of the
other things, more often talked
about, would improve.
Custom, habit, and tradition
are more influential than the
Improvement Era
"source material" found in the
Four Gospels. Despite the rise of
literacy and education, and the
physical presence of the Bible,
our moral standards have been
more firmly shaped by the onward
sweep of custom and tradition in
civilization. Much of the energy
expended to uphold rightness or
deter wrongness is aimed at
superficialities rather than basic
human attitudes. For example,
long hair, beards, and sandals are
not in themselves wrong. Indeed,
they were badges of respectability
not so long ago. Nor is a neat,
well-groomed look always the
badge of moral virtue. Appear-
ances are often deceiving. But the
minds of men tend to see things
in stereotype.
An age that hears outcries
against statism, regimentation,
the evils of conformity, and the
virtues of individualism, tends to
shudder at the least expression of
individuality and individual dif-
ference. Birds of a feather flock
together. Any others tend to be
ugly ducklings. A small town,
composed of single-minded, pro-
fessed Christians, makes it diffi-
cult for those of a different sect
when the new factory brings
"strangers" to town. The message
written large in the Four Gospels
goes unheeded. Fear of the un-
known pervades the atmosphere
until replaced by warm knowledge
developed by cool minds.
There is breakdown of law and
order. Crimes of violence are on
the increase. People are on the
increase. The moral crisis moves
ever onward, upward, and down-
ward. But the lessons basic to the
heart of the matter are rarely
heard. Checks are written for the
United Fund. Headlines about the
latest atrocity are read. But who
has actually read the parables of
the Good Samaritan or the Prodi-
gal Son recently? And practiced
or applied them?
But, be of good cheer. Help
exists — and is available. God has
made man in such notable fashion
that he may stumble through life
without taking too much conscious
advantage of the New Testament.
Help comes in a volume called the
Book of Mormon, wherein a good
parent-teacher named Lehi dis-
closed to his son Jacob that "men
are instructed sufficiently that
they know good from evil," and
that redemption "cometh in and
through the Holy Messiah; for he
is full of grace and truth. Behold,
he offereth himself a sacrifice for
sin, to answer the ends of the law,
unto all those who have a broken
heart and a contrite spirit; and
unto none else can the ends of the
law be answered." (2 Ne. 2:5-7.)
Now, life has a way of bringing
about broken hearts and contrite
spirits. Thus, given man's moral
nature and life's experiences, the
outlook is really hopeful! For, as
the Book of Mormon teacher
pointed out further to his son,
"men are, that they might have
joy." (2 Ne. 2:25.)
In conclusion, it may well be
important to remark that the ethic
of "joy" introduced something
quite novel into the Calvinist sys-
tem of morals, wherein the doc-
trine was announced in 1830 A.D.
Men were supposed to be con-
ceived in sin, to be born in sin,
to live in sin, and to die as worms;
not eternal souls, born with moral
sense ("instructed sufficiently"),
endowed with creative power,
questing for knowledge and intel-
ligence in order to surmount
existing arrangements, moving
toward progress.
Well, things seem pretty bad
sometimes. But there is comfort
in some of these things in these
times. Remember the key thought:
Morals and moral concerns have
for their purpose not misery, but
joy! It will help if more of us act
as if we really believe it. o
February 1968
ATTENTION,
CHOIR
CONDUCTORS!
Suggested LDS Choir Anthems
Abide With Me, 'Tis Eventide
Gates
M
All Glory, Laud and Honor
Schreiner
M
All in the April Evening
Robertson
M
America the Beautiful
Asper
M
Awake! Arise!
Stickles
E
Beautiful Zion for Me
Daynes
E
Bless Ye the Lord
Ivanoff
E
Brother James Air
Jacob
M
Come, Come Ye Saints
Robertson
D
Come, Come Ye Saints
Cornwall
M
For the Beauty of the Earth
Davis
M
Glory to God
Kessel
M
God is Holy
Eberlein
M
God So Loved the World
Stainer
E
Gospel Gives Unbounded
Strength, The
Schreiner
E
Gospel Is Truly the Power
of God
Schreiner
M
He Watching Over Israel
Mendelssohn
M
Here in This House
Howorth
M
Holy City
Arnold
MD
How Beautiful Upon the
Mountains
Harker
MD
I Shall Not Pass Again
This Way
Effinger
E
If Ye Love Me, Keep My
Commandments
Carlbon
M
In My Father's House
MacDermid
M
Jerusalem, 0 Turn Thee
Gounod
M
Jesus, Name of Wondrous Love
Titcomb
M
King of Love My Shepherd Is
Shelley
D
Let Not Your Heart Be
Troubled
Foster
M
Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words
Gates
E
Lo, My Shepherd Is Divine
Haydn
MD
Lo, What a Beauteous Rose
Praetorius
M
Lord Bless You and Keep You
Lutkin
E
Lord Is a Mighty God, The
Mendelssohn
M
Lord Hear Our Prayer
Verdi
MD
Lord Is My Shepherd, The
Richards
M
Lord's Prayer
Gates
M
Lord's Prayer
Robertson
MD
May Now Thy Spirit
Trehorne
M
My Redeemer Lives
Gates
M
Now Let the Heavens Be
Joyful
Chambers
M
Now Thank We All Our God
Holler
E
Now Thank We All Our God
Bach
M
0 Brother Man
Robertson
M
0 Cast Thy Burden Upon
the Lord
Aulbach
E
0 Come, Let Us Worship
Mendelssohn
M
0 God, Our Help in Ages
Past
Cornwall
M
0 Lofty Mountains
Cannon
M
6 Loving Savior, Slain for Us
Auber
M
0 Worship the King
Cornwall
M
Onward Ye People
Sibelius
M
Open Our Eyes
Macfarlane
D
Open the Gates
Jenkins
M
Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief
Durham
M
Son of Man
Robertson
M
Spirit of God
Neidlinger
M
Still, Still With Thee
Shelley
M
Thanks to Thee, 0 Lord
Handel
M
That Blessed Easter Morn
Caldwell
E
Verdant Meadows
Handel
M
We Are Watchmen
Schreiner
MD
With a Voice of Singing
Shaw
M
The Letters E, M, MD and
medium, medium difficult,
D indicate easy,
and difficult.
Average Price is 25c to 30c
Ora Pate Stewart's Wj
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"To a Child" %f4
rtUUCif %
/
Solo or Trio ^^
Music Co
50c each
IDAHO
P. O- Box 2009
FALLS, IDAHO 83401
79
End of an Era
The assignment was written
on the seminary
classroom blackboard: "Why do
we need a Church?"
All of the students began to
write busily except one.
He wrote a few words, then
turned to his mathematics
book. The teacher,
his temperature rising with each
step, marched back to
him, his red pencil poised to
mark 1VF" on the
paper. Then he saw what the
boy had written: 'To keep
the GO in the GOspel."
— Mrs. John S. Kelley,
Boise, Idaho
A scientist rushed into the
control room of the missile center
and announced a new
discovery. "Gentlemen," he
shouted, "there are women
on the moon. We just shot up
a communication rocket and
got a busy signal!"
We have no excuse to err in
our knowledge and understanding
of right and wrong,
because God has marked out
the path, the straight
and narrow way that leads to life
eternal. — Elder Delbert L.
Stapley
My son Robert, as a child,
had a slight speech impediment that
he was quite sensitive
about. When he was in the
fourth grade, his teacher told the
class that Utah was settled by
pioneers who came, for
the most part, from foreign countries.
Then she told them
to ask their parents about the
nationalities of their forefathers.
When I told Robert his
ancestors were Danish, German,
English, Scotch, and
Spanish, his face lit up. ''Well!"
he exclaimed. "No wonder I can't
talk plain!" — Mrs. Martha H.
Burton, Layton, Utah
Can't Lose
By Elizabeth Whitney
// I have an umbrella
That's pretty and new
And leave it somewhere,
The result is "adieu."
If I leave this umbrella,
Well in its decline,
Someone's sure to come
running
And ask if it's mine!
Lawyer — "You say that
you were about 35 feet from the
scene of the crime and
yet you can identify the defendant?
Just how far can you see
clearly?" Witness: "Well, when
I wake up in the
morning I can see the sun,
and they tell me that's
93 million miles away!"
The best way I know of
to win an argument is to start
by being in the right.
— Lord Hailsham
A politician thinks of the
next election; a statesman of
the next generation.
— James Freeman Clarke,
American clergyman
Oh, if it be to choose and call
thee mine,
Love, thou art every day my
Valentine!
—Thomas Hood, "For the
Fourteenth of February"
"End of an Era" will pay $3 for humorous anecdotes and experiences relating to Latter-day Saint way of life. Maximum length 150 words.
80
Improvement Era
RICKS COLLEGE
An outstanding two-year college owned and operated
by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Each student is special at Ricks College
Classes are small at Ricks College. Close
personal relationships tielween professor an
student are the way of life. It's a way of life
titude of friendliness and
inspired by the common
It precipitates a wonder-
by student and faculty,
dominated by an a
concern for others
bond of the gospel,
ful feeling, shared
that is fondly called "The Spirit of Ricks."
The "spirit" is contagious. It begins wit
the friendly hi's and smiles that greet 6ach
student as he enters Ricks. It is amplified
by choice new friendships found in shared-
apartments, classes, and extra-curricular
activities. It swells wijth pride in the great
new campus (fifteen ijpajor buildings since
1962, and a modern fieldhouse currently un-
der construction). It i$ climaxed by unique
experiences in social activities, leadership,
and spirituality provided by the stu
wards of the Ricks College Stake.
Admission Requirements
1. --Graduate from an accredited high school.
2. Take the American College Test (A.C.T.).
3. Arrange forxtiousing.
4. All students are, welcome, and those who
enroll are expected to maintain standards
consistent with the ideals of The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
jt does it cost to attend Ricks College?
Tuition (yearly) LDS | $ 350.00
(inon-LDS — $400^00)
Board and Room (est.) 750.00
"Books and Supplies (est.) 100.00
$1,200.00 (est.)
It is enhanced by the small classes thro
which a superior faculty cares for the indi-
vidual needs of thei students. Each student
is special at Ricks College.
Registration Datel
Ricks C
Application dates tp^femember
Scholarship DeadJifie — April 10
Admission Deadline — April 15
You need to apply early for housing. Beauti-
ful new residence halls for both boys and
girls on and of\ campus provide modern
apartment-style living.
For housing information write:
Housing, Ricks College^ Rexburg, Idaho
83440. Remember, you must apply early.
August 21, 22, 23
bum, Idaho 83440
Where "Hi" is the password!
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Second Class Postage Paid
at Salt Lake City, Utah
It all adds up
to your
Beneficial Life
man!
His heart is in his work . . .
he knows what insurance can
mean to a family's financial
security. He knows people
buy insurance because they
love someone.
His legs are on the go con-
stantly, selling and servicing
Beneficial Life . . . bringing
the beneficial life to thousands
more. He is tireless in bring-
ing you the best insurance
you can buy.
His mind is stocked with the
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and he's trained to apply these
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family's financial needs.
His hands help lighten the
burden of the family head
by providing insurance
tailored to specific needs.
Resolve to get to know your
Beneficial Life agent in
the coming year!
BENEFICIAL LIFE
Virgil H. Smith, Pres.
Salt Lake City, Utah